Persona EG: Rainbow Rocks
by Atlas Ultima
Summary: Returning to the Velvet Room, the trio receives a new mission that involves the other world once again. Another dark power appearing, the three return to find out they arrived in time for a big musical showcase at CHS. However, they soon find some strange new students show up and turn the showcase into a battle of the bands while tension rises closer than they think. (Sequel to BS)
1. P: A New Sun

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Persona EG! I'm really glad for how successful the first one was, so I would be a fool not to keep this going. This time, we're covering the movie that most people say is the best of the four so far, which is hard not to see why. Same rules still apply here, look back at the first story for a refresher.**

**So, what reviews from the previous story is there to respond to:**

**Maelaeran: Thanks. I agree with that, I think there are some scenes I should have extended and maybe had an extra chapter at least. However, I honestly had that as a testing story to see if this would take off. And since the sequels and specials negate the time limit from the first movie, I can take more time with the interactions, which I have some ideas for.**

**Now, let's not delay this! Let's jump right in!**

**Prologue: A New Sun**

Opening his eyes, Ren sees himself in a familiar place that was the Velvet Room. However, instead of a limousine, it was now more of a concert hall with a blue booth table facing the stage. He walks over to the booth, going around it to see Lavenza looking through her book this time before noticing him.

"You've returned." She smiled upon seeing him.

"I can't seem to stay away from this place. Is there another mission?" Ren knew the reason why he's here.

"Yes. Though, I wanted to wait until my sister arrives with her guest."

Ren knew who she was talking about, "That's fine. Where's Morgana?"

"Right here." Turns out he was on Lavenza's lap as he poked his head out from under the table.

This raised a question, "How long did I take?"

"Not long. I just wanted to pet him." Lavenza answered, gently patting his head in the process.

Ren then saw a blue glow from where he entered, seeing a familiar face and a new one as well.

The new person must have been Lavenza's sister since their eyes and hair were the same colors. She had a dark blue headband and wore an equally blue coat with black leggings and black high heel shoes. She held a blue book in her left hand as she walked alongside Yu.

"You must be my sister's guest, are you not?" The woman asked when they reached the booth.

"Yeah. You must be her sister." Ren answered.

"Correct. My name is Margaret. I'm sure you already know my guest." She introduces herself.

"Good to see you again." Yu greeted.

"Same here." Ren said back.

"So, what is happening now? Another dark power from the portal?" Morgana was eager to know, which the boys were curious about as well.

"It appears to be so. Like before, the link between our worlds is still unstable." Margaret answered, "However, the cause for it must be something else. You three must go and find out why this is happening again."

Snapping her fingers, the bags they had from before appear at their feet. Checking inside them, they had some extra clothes added and their weapons respectively. Strangely, Ren had Morgana's weapons in his.

"Morgana told me that his power returned in that world. Best to have him be prepared as well." Lavenza briefly explained.

"Right." Ren then put on the red slingbag as Morgana walked over and hopped on his shoulder.

"May you two be safe on your journey." The sisters say at the same time as the curtains on the stage pulled away, revealing a rainbow colored portal.

Hopping onto the stage, the three then entered on through before the portal closes.

* * *

Appearing once again in the same place as before, they look around at their surroundings to see CHS again.

"At least it's not a different place each time." Morgana was right about that.

"How you've been, Ren? Anything new?" Yu started a conversation as a cool breeze passed by them.

"Not much. School's been all right, nothing really new to talk about." Ren answers as he opens his bag, "You?"

Seeing that he was wearing the same attire from before, he rolled down the sleeves and buttoned up his collared shirt before pulling out a black blazer to put on.

Yu was also wearing the same attire, but decided to switch the short-sleeved jacket to a long sleeved navy blue one.

"Not much either, honestly." Yu then zips up his bag before putting it on his shoulder as Ren does the same.

Morgana hopped into the slingbag before the two started walking towards the school. They saw that the windows were replaced now, which was a good sign, and other students walking by. Some actually said hi as they entered the building, which they were a bit surprised at the warm greetings. Still, they at least waved back before hearing a familiar voice.

"No way!" Coming in from behind, someone grabbed them into a hug. "You guys actually showed up!"

After the hug, they turned around and saw Flash. "Hey, Flash. You're pretty excited." Ren pointed out.

"Of course I'm ecstatic! I was actually wondering if you guys would show up for the musical showcase!" The two look at each other before looking back at him.

"A musical showcase?" Yu repeated.

"Yeah. Our school figured to have a special charity event that involved music. Not that I'm complaining, of course." Flash had a point since he had a band already.

"Well, looks like we showed up at the right time." Ren couldn't help but feel this was a coincidence.

"I'm guessing the girls also joined the showcase?" Yu figured that they would, considering how good they were at singing alone.

"Yup, they called their band the Rainbooms. Not a bad name, honestly." Flash answered, "I know where they practice, wanna see them?"

"Of course." Ren then had a fun little idea.

* * *

Inside the music room, the Rainbooms had just finished one of their songs and were taking a break. Though, what was interesting is the fact that their pony forms from before actually appear when they play music and disappears when it stops. Despite that, they still had their songs down note for note as Sunset applauded them for their performance with a small smile. After the Fall Formal, it took quite awhile for the former queen to make amends as well as fix the leftover damages on the school.

However, even with the promise of her reformation and all the apologies she made, most of the school were still skeptical about whether or not her change is real. Good thing though, the Rainbooms did promise to not only keep an eye on her, but give her a second chance. She stood near the piano as Rarity was excited about the magic they had.

"I still can't believe that actually happens whenever we play!" She was quite excited about the pony forms, "I need to find the best accessories and clothes to match them!"

"As great as this is, Ah still want to know why it happens to us." Applejack brought up a good point, "Princess Twilight took her crown back to her world and Yu, Ren, and Morgana aren't even from her world or our own. So, shouldn't that mean that the magic should have gone with them as well?"

"Whether or not how it happens, it just makes my band rock!" Rainbow cheered, which Rarity raised an eyebrow at.

"Your band?" She repeated.

"Well duh, it was my idea to form the Rainbooms. That, and I'm the lead singer and guitarist so that makes me the head of the band." Rainbow explained.

Rarity let out a small growl with the other girls looking at Rainbow with a bit of disdain to her ego. By then, the door to the room was knocked on, distracting them as Flash poked his head in.

"Heard you girls outside." He said as he enters with his jacket zipped up, "You sound great."

"Well, we still need a bit of work. Rarity came in a bit late on the second verse and Applejack's bass needs a little tuning." Rainbow brought up, much to the two's annoyance. "Don't worry, we'll get that fixed before the showcase."

"Didn't sound that bad to me." Flash admitted, "Though, you think our 'out of town' friends will show up?"

"Ah wouldn't be too sure about that. Princess Twilight is back in her world with the portal closed for who knows how long and the boys went away after she left. Ah guess they either appear together or not at all." Applejack debunked.

"I see. The reason I ask is because you never really know if they're gonna... pop up." Suddenly, a familiar cat head popped out of his jacket. "Oh, would you look at that!"

"Morgana!?" Fluttershy was quick as she dashed towards the two and took the cat out, hugging him. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah. Last time we saw you, you left with the others through a glowing blue door." Pinkie remembered.

"Well, who said he came alone?"

Next thing they knew, Yu and Ren enter the room to everyone's surprise.

"This is amazing! Wait, don't tell me you actually didn't get back!" Rarity thought of the bad outcome.

"No, we did." Yu reassured, "However, we recently got a return trip."

"Which I'm thankful for. I was getting a bit bored." Ren said offhandedly as he twirled a strand of his hair in the center of his face.

"While I would like to hang out, I gotta get to my band. See you guys later." Flash then left the room.

"I hope it isn't anything bad that made you come back." Fluttershy was a bit concerned about why they were here.

"Well, we haven't seen anything weird yet. For all we know, it may be a small vacation." Ren joked a little.

"Things can change on a dime, though. Best to be safe than sorry." Yu warned.

"Can you use your Personas still?" Rainbow wondered.

"Let's see." Morgana then hopped down to the ground, concentrating for a moment before he burst into flames, transforming into his bipedal form. "Sweet!"

"Wait, didn't we already figured that out before?" Applejack recalls seeing them doing the same after Twilight left.

"Did we? It's been awhile." Rainbow thought about how long it's been already.

"Actually, I just realized something. You look different, Ren." Rarity decided to get a close look at his face.

"What do you mean?" Ren knew what she was talking about, but decided to see if they can figure it out.

"I think she means your face. I don't think it's been this smooth last time." Pinkie guesses this by feeling around his face, which he couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"I take good care of myself." Ren then gently moved Pinkie's hands away as Fluttershy spoke.

"I think you wore a mask." She remembered his Phantom attire having one.

"What kind of mask are we talking here?" Pinkie then pulled out a sack of various masks before putting them on one by one.

"This? This? Or maybe this? How about this? Oh! This one!?" She put on a skull mask, then a dog mask, a fox mask, a horse mask, and finally a... Mona mask?

"Hey, put me down!" Turns out to be the real Mona as Pinkie does just that.

"I think it was a bird." Yu remembered it was a domino mask designed like one.

"Of course!" Pinkie then facepalms with... a hand mask?

"OK..." Ren decided not to question what just happened before he heard Rarity gasp.

"Of course! Excuse me." She was quick in reaching into his bag and finding his glasses case, which contained the glasses he wore.

"Really? That's it?" Applejack was a bit disappointed that it was just glasses he wore.

Rarity then put his glasses on his face, "Ah, there we go."

Ren smirked as he pushes his glasses up a bit, "I guess I look better with these?"

"Such accessories must be used to their fullest." She gave a bit of advice along with her answer.

As they were talking, Sunset stood near the piano, rubbing her arm out of nervousness when Pinkie showed up by her.

"Come on, you know you gotta talk to them sooner or later." She then pushes her towards the two, getting their attention.

"H-Hi there." Sunset felt a bit awkward talking to them after last time.

"Hey. Good to see you, Sunset." Yu greeted, letting her breathe a sigh of relief.

"G-Great to see you two as well." She still felt a bit strange talking to them normally.

Ren walks over to her to place a hand on her shoulder, "How's the reforming going?"

"She's doing great! Though, the school haven't given her a chance to prove that." Rainbow mentioned.

"Makes sense. Don't worry, they'll warm up to you eventually." Ren reassured her.

"...I hope you're right about that." Sunset agreed with him on that.

"So, we heard that you girls started a band for the showcase." Morgana looks at the instruments they had.

"That's right, and we're gonna rock it like no one's business!" Rainbow was really confident about winning.

"Uh, Rainbow?" Fluttershy walks over to her, "I was wondering if we could do one of my songs."

"Yeah, we'll get to it. Come on, let's do one more before lunch." Rainbow shrugged off, which Yu and Ren noticed.

Before they could call them out on it, the speaker came on. _"Sunset Shimmer, report to the foyer. Sunset Shimmer, report to the foyer."_

It then turns off as Sunset clarified for the two, "I volunteered to give new students a tour of the school. Hopefully, I can give them a look at the new me before people tell them about the old me."

"We didn't get much of a tour last time. I'll go with you." Ren then turns to Yu, "What about you?"

"Actually, I'm curious to hear one of their songs." Yu admits.

Ren was about to ask Morgana, but he was busy being petted by Fluttershy. He takes off the slingbag and places it by the door just in case they don't return before lunch.

"I guess it's just us." Ren then gestures Sunset to go, "After you."

"Thanks." She simply said as the two headed off to the foyer.

* * *

As the two walk down the hall, Ren took the time to learn what Sunset has been doing. Once she finally replaced all the windows that were destroyed, she volunteered for various things such as the school tour and even helping Fluttershy out at the animal shelter whenever she could. However, the other students wouldn't allow her to join their clubs, which he doesn't blame them after all she did.

"Even the animals don't really like me that much. Thankfully, Fluttershy taught me how to properly take care of them." Sunset admits.

"Well, that's a start nevertheless." Ren pointed out.

Sunset then realized something, "You sound like you had experience with this."

"You're not wrong." He answered vaguely.

"Really? How so?" She was a bit curious now.

"It's a... really long story." He wasn't lying about that.

"I'm willing to listen." Seeing this as an opportunity to know his story, she wanted to hear his side of the experience.

Ren smirked before answering, "I'll give you the cliff notes then."

Soon after their conversation, they reached the foyer to meet with the new students.

"Hi! Are you the girls I'm supposed to show around?" Sunset asked them.

"We are." The middle one replied back.

Ren felt something a bit off as he looks at the new girls.

The one who spoke had long frizzy orange hair with yellow streaks that is held up by a spiked headband as she wore a shirt and short shorts that are colored dark purple, fingerless gloves and long stockings that reached her shorts colored light lavender, and dark purple boots that has the back lined with spikes along with spiked anklets. She also wore a gold belt with a gem of the same color in the center and a pin of the gold gem with a treble clef on the left leg of her shorts.

The one on her right has purple hair with light aquamarine streaks that were tied up in pigtails by hair bands with silver stars around them as she wore a light green slightly torn short sleeve jacket over a white shirt, purple pants with small stars on the outer thighs, and a darker shade of purple boots. She also had three dark purple bands around her forearms and a crossed lavender belt with a silver star in the center.

The one on her left had light blue hair with dark blue streaks tied in a ponytail by a simple blue hairband as she wore a dark purple-red shirt with a heart and a light blue music note on the right side of her chest, a light pink skirt, and a pair of fuchsia boots with pink fur reaching near her knees. She also had purple bracelets around her wrists with small diamonds jutting out of them.

One thing that all three of them shared with a necklace with a red gem that matched each other perfectly.

"I hope you girls love it here. It's an incredible school to be a part of." Sunset said as she shook their hands.

"Oh yes, we can sense something... magical about this place." The middle one agrees with her.

"That's great to hear. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and this is my friend Ren Amamiya." Sunset gestures to him, which he notices.

"Nice to meet you." Ren simply greeted with.

"I'm Adagio Dazzle. This is Aria Blaze, and that's Sonata Dusk." As she introduces themselves, Sonata was the only one who waved to them, showing that she is more enthusiastic than the other two.

"Nice to meet you three. Now, let's begin the tour." Sunset lead the way with Ren by her with the three girls following behind them.

As Sunset showed them each section of the building, Ren noticed the girls weren't really that interested about the classes. They went to the library, the cafeteria, the gym, and some of the classes nearby until they reached the science and computer labs when Sunset sees one of the posters for the musical showcase.

"Oh! We're having a musical showcase this weekend." This caught the girls' attention.

"A musical, you say?" Adagio repeated as she had a small smile.

"Yeah. Even if you're new here, Principal Celestia will let you sign up if you're interested." Sunset didn't catch her smile turn into a smirk.

"Of course we will. We've been known to sing from time to time." Aria mentions to the two.

"Yeah! Though, we sing all the time! That's how we get others to do what we want!" Sonata chimed in.

Ren caught what she said, making him curious as Adagio turns to her with a leer while moving her hand near her neck to signal her to shut up.

"What? What did I say?" Sonata didn't get the message.

Sunset was confused by what she said as Adagio clarified for her, "What she meant is that the showcase will be a great way to get to know the other students."

"Oh! Yeah, what she said." Sonata caught on finally, showing that she's a bit ditsy. "That's what I meant. To say."

Aria scoffed in annoyance, "Next time, think before you speak. That is if you had any of your brain left."

"I do so have a brain! And it's bigger than yours!" Sonata complained before Adagio quickly stepped in between her bickering companions.

"Excuse these two. They're idiots." Her words obviously offended the two.

"Hey!" They exclaimed in anger, only to pout as Adagio gave them a swift glare.

"Uh... OK, then." Sunset was confused during that entire exchange as Ren mainly observed it.

The girls must be friends if they're able to play off each other like siblings would. By now, Sunset also noticed the gems they had for their necklaces and was quite intrigued.

"Wow, those are beautiful. What kind of-" Whether it was instinct or something, Adagio was looking away when she noticed Sunset's hand pointing a bit close for her liking, immediately grabbing her wrist. Though, what surprised her was the fact that Ren was just as quick to grab her wrist, probably out of reflex.

Adagio lets go of Sunset's wrist right before Ren releases hers, making her nervously chuckle. "Sorry about that. These pendants mean so much to us, and they are quite fragile."

"Oh. Sorry, should have just asked instead." Sunset apologizes.

Seeing that the tour has concluded, the girls began to wander about with Sonata standing where she is before having to be dragged off by Aria. Sunset and Ren watched as they went around the corner.

"Those girls are... strange." Sunset had many questions about them.

"Yeah. And I don't think it's out of nervousness." Ren brought up, "I can tell when someone's nervous and those three seems to be more interested in something else other than the classes."

"Really? I honestly thought that they were told about me already." Sunset rubbed the back of her head as she mentions that.

"No, I think they would act more scared of you. But after Adagio grabbed your wrist like that..." Ren debunked.

"They must be really protective of those pendants." Sunset concluded.

The two then heard the bell go off, signaling the start of the lunch period. "For now, let's meet up with the others. I could use a snack." Ren said as the two headed to the cafeteria.

**And done! OK, got the Persona trio to meet the band and establish the villains in one fell swoop. Like I said, I wanted to get into this story as soon as I could since I have ideas that I really want to do in terms of interactions between the characters.**

**I know this is earlier than Twilight showing up, but I wanted to have a certain song in here that is really good.**

** So, with that said, I'll see ya next chapter!**


	2. C1: Song of the Sirens

**Hello, fellow readers! Another chapter for you to read and enjoy! So, what's on my board tonight?**

**Maelaeran: I would have said devious if it was a prank. He just had a little surprise for them.**

**TheBeatles211: Thanks. Glad to hear that as I'm excited for this too.**

**hnh058513: While those are good songs, they aren't what I'm talking about.**

**Solartiger: Thanks!**

**With that said, let's get going!**

**Chapter 1: Song of the Sirens**

_A few minutes earlier_

"Come on, Fluttershy." Rainbow called over, which Morgana simply jumped off her lap as she got up.

"Don't worry, I'll be here." Morgana simply said before walking over to Yu, "Where's Ren?"

"He went to get a tour with Sunset." Yu answered, "She volunteered to be a tour guide for new students."

"Knowing him, he probably wants to know if her reformation is true." Morgana then smirked, "Or to get to know her better."

"...Are you implying something?" Yu raised an eyebrow at the cat.

"Nope, just saying that he can be quite the gentleman." Morgana remembers how he acts around the girls in their group and outside their circle.

Before the two can continue, the Rainbooms started their song for the rehearsal. Listening to their music, they sounded great with their instruments that they have, showing that they know their strengths. However, the song they played had the guitar be the main focus with simple chords for the others to play in the background. Rainbow was also the main singer with the others doing backup vocals. The lyrics were also centered around...

Yu now got the picture as he sees the other girls had more of an annoyed look on their faces as the guitar solo came in. Though, he decided to wait to see if the rest of the song was like this.

"Gee, ego much?" Morgana commented.

"Yeah... even Rise wasn't like this." He knows the pop singer was quite popular, but she didn't have a song that talked about her like this.

Once the song ended, Rainbow smiled as the others sighed a bit. "Yes! I swear, that song gets better each time!"

"Rainbow? You mind if I talk to you for a sec?" Yu called her over.

"Oh. OK." Rainbow was a bit confused at this, but decided to hear him out. Putting down her guitar on the stand, she walks with him outside the door to the room.

Yu closes the door and started talking, "Your band sounds great, but it wouldn't matter if you're not aware of what's happening."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow wasn't getting what he meant.

"Well... it doesn't seem like your friends are behind someone that has themselves as the center of attention." Yu knows that this isn't his band, but he does want to help out with any issues they have.

"You mean the song I wrote? That's just one song. The other ones we have aren't like that." She was getting an idea, but that isn't what he meant.

"Look, just try to... at least see what the others have to say." Yu gave a bit of advice before they heard the bell ring.

"OK, I'll... think about it." Rainbow was still confused at what he was saying.

Going back into the room to get their stuff, Yu put on the slingbag Ren left for Morgana who hopped onto his shoulder as the girls left.

"Did you tell her?" Morgana asked before reverting back to his cat form.

"I didn't want to intrude on something I'm not entirely sure about. I only warned her about what's she doing." Yu answered.

"Better than nothing, I guess." Morgana muttered before going in the slingbag with Yu exiting the room and closed the door behind him.

* * *

_Present time_

As Sunset and Ren enter the cafeteria, they spotted the group at one of the tables and went to sit with them. While the group was eating, Sunset didn't feel like eating as Ren snatched the apple off Yu's tray without him looking.

"So, how was the tour?" Applejack asked.

"...I'm not really sure." Sunset answered, confusing the others.

"The girls we were touring around, there was something off about them." Ren explains to them before taking a bite.

"You mean off like this?" Pinkie puts her puffy hair in front of her to form a long beard, "Or this?" She took off the beard and shoved two long carrots into her mouth, making her look like a walrus. "Ooh! How about-"

"Pinkie, just let them tell us." Rainbow stopped her from going any further as one of the carrots fell out.

"That's the thing, I don't know what to tell you other than that." Sunset puts her head on the table as Ren spoke, "All we know is that whoever these girls are, they have an agenda of their own."

"You mean they're bad news?" Fluttershy guessed.

"That's what it sounds like." Yu then realizes where his apple went, seeing Ren taking another bite. "You could have just asked."

"Habit." Ren casually said for his answer before noticing Yu had the slingbag, "Morgana in there?"

"Yeah." Morgana then poked his head out for a moment to answer before going back in.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the halls outside of the cafeteria, the girls they were talking about stood near the doors.

"Alright, girls. Time to get what we came for." Adagio said.

"Lunch!?" Sonata guessed, only for her answer to be a smack upside her head by Aria.

"No, she means the magic here. Though, I doubt that there are any." She corrected.

"Maybe if you bothered to care, you should feel the magic here like I do." Adagio was getting annoyed by her pessimism as she spoke, "With enough negative energy from these students, we'll be able to have enough to make anyone do our bidding. And this time, we won't have any old unicorn to banish us."

"Can we get lunch after?" Sonata's question made Adagio's eye twitch a bit as she saw a poster of tacos, "It's Taco Tuesday!"

Aria sighed in agitation, "Why do you even like those? They're disgusting."

"No, they're not!" Sonata argued, "You just don't like new things!"

"Enough!" Adagio cut in to stop their bickering, "If we could use our own negative energy, we wouldn't even be starving. Now, if you're done being morons, follow my lead."

"How about one of us lead this time?" Aria brought up.

"Who's idea was this in the first place?" Adagio countered, making Aria grumble in annoyance for a response. "Exactly."

Seeing Aria suck in her disdain and Sonata paying attention for once, Adagio grinned as she placed her hands on the doors.

* * *

"You sure that's what you heard right?" Rarity asked Ren after he told them what happened on the tour.

"Yeah. Those gems must have something special about them." Sunset thought out loud.

"And this Sonata girl said something about singing to get others to do things they want?" Rainbow clarified.

"It sounds familiar, but I can't recall what it was." Yu had an idea of what she meant.

As they were thinking, the doors to the cafeteria opened to show the girls they were talking about entering with them singing a song in harmony. Their voices had a haunting feel to the group as they were confused as to what was happening right now. The singing caught everyone's attention as they stopped their conversations, watching the girls as they walked down the rows of tables with their song.

_[Adagio]_  
_We heard that you want to get together_  
_We heard you want to rock the school_  
_We've thought of something better_  
_Something that changes all the rules_

As she walked past some of the students, she brushed her fingers on their heads or shoulders in a seductive manner that got anyone's attention to focus on her. The other two did the same to other students as their song continued.

_Why pretend we're all the same_  
_When some of us shine brighter?_

_[Aria and Sonata]_  
_Shine brighter_

_[Adagio]_  
_Here's a chance to find your flame_  
_Are you a loser or a fighter?_

"What is even going on?" Rainbow whispered, getting no answer from the others as they just watched on.

_[All three]_  
_Me and you, you and me_  
_Why don't we see who is better?_  
_We don't have to be one and the same thing_  
_Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?_  
_Are you afraid of losing the audition?_

The group then noticed the other students beginning to leer at each other, seeing that the song was having an effect on them. Yu and Ren saw that it was causing some sort of green mist to appear on the floor as the song continued.

_[Adagio]_  
_You're a star and you should know it_  
_Yeah, you rise above the rest_

Aria and Sonata then lifted her onto a table and walks down to the other end to get a male student's attention.

_It doesn't matter who you hurt_  
_If you're just proving you're the best_

_[All three]_  
_Ah-ahh-ahh-ahh_

_Battle! You wanna win it_  
_Let's have a battle, battle of the bands_  
_Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it_  
_Let's have a battle, battle, battle_  
_Battle of the bands_

Soon, the students were chanting battle along with the girls while they continued the song, fighting over each other as the girls enjoyed the bickering. The group could only watch as they were just baffled at the scene.

_[All three and the students]_  
_Me and you, you and me_  
_Why don't we see who is better?_  
_We don't have to be one and the same thing_  
_Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?_

_[Students]_  
_I'm going out and winning the audition_

_[All three and the students]_  
_Battle! We want to win it_  
_Let's have a battle, battle of the bands_  
_Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it_  
_Let's have a battle, battle, battle_  
_Battle of the bands!_

The green mist was now flowing into their gems, gaining more power as the group watch them arguing.

"Oh, that's what you meant." Pinkie said to Sunset, who made a face of 'Yeah, no kidding.'

After lunch ended, the group left the cafeteria to go to the principal's office as they spoke about what happened.

"So they literally sing to get what they want." Ren remembered what he heard.

"They must be using dark magic to having hypnotic singing powers or something." Sunset concluded from what they saw.

"If that's the case, are they from where Twilight is from?" Yu brought up, which made the rest of the group worry more.

"We better tell Principal Celestia about this right away." Applejack says, "Last thing we need is another event almost being ruined by a power-crazed lunatic."

The boys noticed Sunset winced a bit as Applejack realized what she said, "Uh, no offense." She quickly said to Sunset.

"None taken." Sunset played it off.

Once the group reached the office, they entered to see both principals in there. Thankful that they don't have to repeat the story twice, Sunset approached the desk. "Sorry for the intrusion, but we have to inform you two of something."

"What seems to be the problem?" Luna asked.

"It's about the new girls..." She then explained what happens in the cafeteria earlier, though they don't look like they even believe her despite what has happened before.

"...Well, I apparently find that very hard to believe." Celestia denied, "Those girls came into my office earlier and were absolutely delightful."

"Perhaps you're just making out someone else to be a bad element." Luna insinuated, making Sunset grimace at her claim.

"W-Well, I can see why you'd think that, but I'm not playing the blame game." Sunset defended with her friends backing her up.

"We saw them in the cafeteria, too." Rainbow said.

"And we saw how them using their magic." Ren added.

"We can see that, but isn't your band performing in the Musical Showcase as well?" Celestia questioned, getting hesitant nods from the girls. "Then I don't see how it's a problem for the Dazzlings to practice as well."

"The Dazzlings?" Yu repeated.

"That's the name of their group." Celestia answered, "They came here to sign up for the showcase, even singing one of their songs for us."

The group gasped in shock at this, seeing the principals' eyes glow green for a moment before going away.

"And we think the idea of a Battle of the Bands instead is a marvelous one." Celestia said, "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, that's all." Sunset simply answered before the group exited the office.

Walking down the halls now, the group sees the other students being separated by being in their own band group.

"This is bad. They already got even the principals under their spell." Fluttershy was getting a bit scared at this.

"And they even made the showcase into a competition." Rainbow added.

"But, how come we're not affected?" Rarity thought out loud.

"Maybe it must be the magic we got from Princess Twilight when we faced Sunset's Shadow." Pinkie recalled before realizing what she said, "No offense."

Sunset rolled her eyes, "None taken."

"If that's the case, why don't we just do what we did last time and summon that Rainbow Beam to take them down?" Rainbow's idea wasn't a bad one.

"Even if we could, our magic only comes out in music now." Applejack brought up.

"True... but we don't know the full extent of what they're capable of." Ren countered.

"And we got no way to get a message to Twilight." Yu added.

Sunset then remembered something, seeing her locker nearby as she opens it. "I think I got something that'll help." She said as she dug through it.

Reaching the bottom of her locker, she had a hard covered book with her sun design on it. "A book?" Rarity questioned.

"Not just a book, this is a journal I was given when I was Princess Celestia's pupil. Even when I ran away, I guess I kept this in case I wanted to come back home." Sunset explained.

She then went through the pages, seeing the lessons she learned and all the new spells she tried out with the princess responding back to her. Nostalgia hit her as she read some of it before seeing the remaining pages that had writing on it. Turns out even when she ran away, the princess was very worried about her and tried to get into contact with her for awhile. After seeing the last page, she almost cried as the words sounded like the princess was coming to terms with her...

She quickly turned to a blank page, making sure she didn't have any stray tears before speaking. "Hope it still works..."

"Then give it a shot!" Rainbow handed her a pen to write with, which she accepted and looked at it for a moment before looking down at the book.

"Oh boy..." She mumbled, "Been a long time since I wrote these words."

She then pressed the tip of the pen against the page before moving it into words.

_Dear Princess Celestia_

**And done! So, with having the Persona trio show up earlier than Twilight, of course some things are changed a bit. However, I don't want to make it an instant problem solver or this story is gonna be shorter than the movie.**

**Since Yu has been in a band once, he has a bit of experience that a band is like a team. But, he can only give advice to them.**

**Anyways, the conflict has shown up and they have no clear way to face it. With Sunset's journal from back then, they could only hope for contact with the princess to get a message to Twilight.**

**Will they get help from the other side? Find out next chapter!**


	3. C2: A Fallen Fool

**Hello, fellow readers! Back once more with another, let's see what we got:**

**Maelaeran: It would be funny, but P5 doesn't have it as far as I know. I should say that the skills and personas used in this story are based on Persona 5's system since I'm most familiar with it.**

**TheBeatles211: The song was there. Oh, you meant a Persona song? Sorry, should have been more clear on that. Though, I may include one, I don't know.**

**hnh058513: That is a great point, which makes this more interesting.**

**Alrighty then, let's get going!**

**Chapter 2: A Fallen Fool**

After Sunset wrote the message to the princess, the group went outside to the statue to wait. Knowing that they'll be there for quite a bit, Rarity brought out a red and white plaid-patterned blanket to sit down on in front of the portal.

"Well, since we're waiting, how about that rematch?" Rainbow remembered her challenge she offered to them.

"Now? Well, I don't see why not." Yu did accept it before they left.

"Not all of us can go watch, though. She may come out without us knowing." Ren pointed out.

"OK. Anyone want to watch our match?" Rainbow asked the group.

Ren, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sunset decided to stay while Applejack, Pinkie, and Morgana went with the two to the soccer field. As the second group went off, Ren sat down with the girls.

"So, I was curious about something." Rarity started a conversation, "Do you have a girlfriend, Ren?"

"W-Where did that come from!?" Ren was actually caught off guard by her question.

"I asked Twilight about that before, but she didn't have an answer. So, I figured to hear it from you." Rarity then smirked, "So, who's the lucky girl?"

"O-Oh, um..." Ren doesn't really have anyone that close. Sure, there was the girls in their group, but they only have a mutual bond between each other. Then there was the girls outside the group. They are nice, but don't really tickle his fancy like that.

"Well, I've met plenty of girls back in my world. Though, I don't really have that 'special someone' you're thinking of." Ren decided to be honest with his answer, "I guess you found an interest in me?"

"Wha- I was just curious! I had that question in my head for weeks, I'll have you know!" Rarity was a bit flustered at his teasing.

"I wondered what you think about other than fashion..." Sunset said offhandedly, which Fluttershy giggled a bit to.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the soccer field, Rainbow and Yu have already started their match. After Yu took off the slingbag and his jacket, they established that it will be the same rules as before, first to five goals win. The two are already tied one-to-one while Applejack watched with Pinkie and Morgana providing commentary.

"Our two players seem to be giving it their all right at the start!" Morgana commented as Yu had the ball with Rainbow following right behind him.

"Dashie is seeing an opportunity to take back her momentum and..." Pinkie halted her sentence for dramatic effect.

Right before Yu was able to kick the ball, Rainbow leaped right past him as she swiped the ball away. She ran back down the field as Yu tried to catch up.

"Dashie performs a swift interception! She's getting the match back in her favor and..." Once again halting her sentence, Pinkie waited.

Yu caught up with her as Rainbow delivered a swift kick, hitting the ball into the goal.

"Rainbow takes the lead! Two-to-one!" Morgana called out.

She then passes the ball back to Yu, "I see your skills are as sharp as before."

Yu catches it, "Battle reflexes help out a lot when it comes to sports."

"Really? Hmm, maybe I should take karate or something." Rainbow thought about those dojos that are around town.

"I have a friend that trains by watching kung fu movies." Yu remembers Chie uses techniques that was shown on them when they battled shadows.

"Sounds like someone I can get along with." Rainbow smirked at that before they heard a shout from the bleachers.

"Talk later!" It was Pinkie as she was being impatient at them.

"Oh, right." Yu was pretty unaffected by her shout as he casually drops the ball back down to the ground.

The two got right back into their match as Yu ran across the field with Rainbow chasing after him.

* * *

"Wait, the princess from Equestria is able to lift the sun and the moon?" Ren was surprised at the fact that their ruler can do that.

"Yeah. I know her sister raises the moon, but she was banished after the two battled each other. That's how the tale went, at least." Sunset recalled.

"Siblings fighting each other like that?" Rarity can't think of a reason as to why that came to be.

"Princess Luna became jealous of the fact that people don't appreciate her night as much as they do the sun. That manifested as an form of hers named Nightmare Moon." Sunset remembered reading the tale multiple times before becoming the princess's pupil.

"That's awful. I've been out in nature on during the night sometimes, it's always beautiful to see the stars." Fluttershy was one of the few who would enjoy it.

"Well, I'm usually in the city when it's nighttime." Ren only seen the stars in the planetarium he went to from time to time.

"I'll take you out on a nature walk then. Trust me, you'll appreciate it." Fluttershy offered to him.

"When we're not dealing with some threat, sure." Ren knew their priorities right now, but accepted the offer.

Rarity finished painting Fluttershy's nails as she asked a question, "Has Twilight responded back yet?"

Sunset opened her journal to the recent message she sent, seeing no response back to it. "Not yet."

"You sure she's gonna show?" Right after Ren said that, the portal from the statue opened to shoot out a familiar girl and dog.

The two landed on the ground, shaking off the dizziness from their landing as the four got up to their feet. "Twilight!"

Twilight pushed herself up to her knees, "I'm back."

Sunset walked over to her and held out her hand to help her, but Twilight was actually a bit hesitant at first. Though, it only lasted a few secs before she accepted it, Sunset pulling her up to her feet.

Rarity and Fluttershy went to hug her briefly before Twilight noticed Ren, "You're here too!?"

"Me and Yu got here earlier. Though, it's been awhile since we last met." Ren clarified.

"I'm glad that you got my message." Sunset chimed in.

"Yeah. Funny enough, it was among the books that I was being given to add to my library." Twilight couldn't help but think that was a coincidence, "And I was able to research what you said in the journal. Unfortunately, I don't really have good news to tell about it."

"Then let's get the others. They're at the soccer field right now." Rarity mentions to her.

"I was wondering why everyone wasn't here." Twilight realized.

"Yeah. Rainbow really wanted that rematch." Ren chuckled a bit at that.

"Of course she would." Twilight remembered that she offered that to the two before the group headed to the field.

* * *

"The game is tied four-to-four! It is match point right now as the players are trying not to show their fatigue to each other!" Morgana commented as the two are running across the field, bouncing the ball from each other to gain momentum.

"Dashie hates to lose! She took this match wanting to win!" Pinkie commented.

Yu had the ball now, but knows that the constant running is wearing him down. Seeing Rainbow's goal open, he sent the ball flying with a hard kick despite being more than halfway in terms of distance before dropping to his knees to rest. Unbeknownst to him, Rainbow wasn't ready to drop yet as she sprinted full speed to intercept the ball as it landed on the ground bouncing.

The commentators were silent watching as Rainbow managed to stop the bouncing ball with her foot by jumping in the air to deliver a high-flying kick to sent it back across. However, Applejack saw where the ball was going in its trajectory.

"Yu! Look out!" She called out to warn him, getting his attention.

Unfortunately, he looks up just in time to see the ball-

SMACK!

He fell back onto the ground on his back as the ball hit the goal's frame, not counting it as a point.

"OH! That's gotta hurt!" Pinkie pointed out the obvious as the three headed over to check on him.

Ren's group reached the field as they saw the aftermath of the match. Seeing Rainbow on the ground with Yu getting checked on by the others, they went to find out what happened.

"Rainbow! What happened?" Fluttershy and Rarity went to check on her as Ren and Twilight went to Yu.

"I... think I won." Rainbow was out of breath as she answered.

"You sure, darling? Yu appears to have taken a hit." Rarity figured from the way the others are checking on him.

"Wait, what?" Rainbow slowly got to her feet with help from Fluttershy to see what happened.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was looking over Yu with a magnifying glass as Applejack tapped her foot. "I got it! My diagnosis: out cold." She concluded.

"Wait, knocked out!? How hard was he hit?" Twilight was surprised at that.

Applejack and the others noticed Twilight, "Oh, hey Twilight. Glad you made it."

"Sorry about the lack of a welcome, but Rainbow decided to have the match while we waited for you to respond." Morgana explained.

"I can see that. Though, I didn't expect this." Twilight simply said in response.

"Was it her foot?" Ren questioned.

"It was the ball. Yu kicked it from here to her goal, only for her to barely intercept the ball with a reckless kick back towards his. The trajectory, however..." Applejack explained.

"I see. The fact that the ball knocked him out shows how strong she is." Ren muttered.

"Is he all right?" Rainbow had walked over with Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Yeah, just taking a nap." Ren joked, which Applejack nudged him with her elbow.

"Best we take him to the nurse's office to make sure." Morgana offered.

* * *

After getting their stuff and Morgana hopping in his slingbag before Ren puts it on, the group entered the school to go to the nurse's office. Entering it, they saw the nurse was inside checking her files.

"Excuse us, miss." Ren said, getting her attention. "My friend here got injured playing a soccer match."

"Oh my. Please, place him here." The nurse was quick to get to work.

After they placed Yu on the examination table, they let the nurse examine him as Ren and Rainbow sat in the two seats in the office as the others stood outside the door due to not having enough space for them. After some time, the nurse had finished and had her diagnosis.

"It seems that he doesn't have a concussion, but there is a bruise where the ball had hit his forehead." The nurse then placed an ice pack on Yu's head where the bruise was, "Right now, let him rest here until he wakes up."

"OK. Thank you..." Ren then sees her name tag, "Nurse Redheart."

"It's what I do." She smiled as he and Rainbow got up to exit the room.

Rainbow was quiet as he closed the door behind them, seeing the others nearby.

"How is he?" Fluttershy was the first to ask.

"Thankfully, just a bruise. Just some ice and rest will get him back on his feet." Ren informed them.

"Thank goodness." Rarity muttered.

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, feeling a bit guilty at what happened as Sunset spoke up. "Well, since the rest of us are here, we may as well hear that information about what those girls might be."

"Oh right, that's why I came here." Twilight sheepishly reminded herself before continuing, "Well, with what you mentioned in your message, the closest thing I found was these beautiful and deadly creatures called the Sirens."

Ren snapped his fingers, "I knew it was something like that!"

"Does your world have them as well?" Twilight asked.

"We had myths about creatures of the same name." Ren briefly mentions before realizing something, "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, it's OK." Twilight shrugged off before continuing, "Anyways, in order for them to use their charm, they had to feed off the negative energy from others by creating distrust between them. The more they absorb, the stronger their power becomes."

"That's definitely dangerous." Ren muttered.

"Before they could divide and conquer Equestria, StarSwirl the Bearded was able to send them to another world where he believes their power will fade away. Unfortunately, it seems that the world they appeared in is here." Twilight finished, leaving the others to think about what was told to them.

"So, if they were sent here by this StarSwirl wizard, why are they just now showing up?" Applejack questioned.

"I'm not sure. Right now, all I know is that we have to stop them before they get too powerful to defeat." Twilight warned.

Morgana popped his head out of the slingbag, "Actually, if their magic is created through the negative energy they absorb, then we gotta figure out how they're absorbing it."

"Wait a minute..." Sunset remembered what they did at the cafeteria, seeing the mist enter through... "Their gems!"

Ren immediately caught on, "That's why she was protective of them! Not because of their frailty, but it's their power source!"

Twilight then remembered seeing red gems in the pictures of the Sirens, "That must be it! If we can only find a way to separate them from the gems..."

"Do I hear a request for the Phantom Thieves?" Morgana climbed onto Ren's shoulder as he asks that.

Ren had a smirk on his face as the girls looked at the two, "Definitely sounds like that."

"Wait, you actually meant it when you told us that?" Rarity recalled.

"Of course I did! The Phantom Thieves are always serious business!" Morgana felt a bit offended at her words.

"So, are you two like thieves that steal treasure and stuff like that?" Spike was strangely quiet throughout the entire time they were talking until now.

"Oh, you're here too." Ren didn't notice Spike also showed up with Twilight.

"Wow, you're very observant." Spike sarcastically remarked.

"OK, Ah can get that you're a Persona user. But, how does that equal you being a thief?" Applejack was doubtful about that.

Morgana hopped down to the ground as the two burst into flames to change into their Phantom attire, "This isn't just for show." He pointed out.

"We use codenames to suit the looks. Along with hiding our identities." Joker smirked, "Now, huddle together. I got a plan."

The girls got into a huddle with him along with Spike and Mona in the middle before he realized someone was missing. Seeing Rainbow still next to the door, he went to check on her.

"This is the most quiet you've been." Joker started the conversation.

"Who, me? Who's quiet? I'm... just thinking." Rainbow was quick to deny what he said.

"...That kick wasn't intentional." Joker decided to play it straight.

Rainbow sighed, "I know, but it probably wouldn't have happened if I wanted to even the score so badly... and this isn't the first time."

"I'm not really surprised." Joker admits.

"It's always unintentional, but I injure other players when I get too competitive." Rainbow remembers the times during the Friendship Games where her team loses because of her getting disqualified.

"I see. Well, you can't win all the time. Losing is part of how you learn the flaws in your style." Joker remembers his friend Hifumi who was a shogi player that assisted him with tactics.

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, "Guess I'm just a sore loser..."

Joker places his hand on her shoulder, "Doesn't mean you'll never win again."

Rainbow gives a small smile, "Yeah, you're right. Though, you think he'll forgive me?"

Joker chuckled a bit, "Of course he would."

Once their conversation ended, the two returned to the others and started on their plans to stop the Dazzlings.

**And done! Well, this changed course fast. Going from having little info on them to building a plan to stop them, but with the leader of the Phantom Thieves along with Twilight and Sunset being as smart as they are, it shouldn't be that hard to place the pieces together.**

**However, Yu is out of commission thanks to Rainbow, leaving Ren and Morgana to watch over the girls. Will they be able to pull this off?**

**Find out next chapter!**

**P.S. Don't worry about the updating pace, I want to slow it down a bit to spend a little more time on ideas I can use. That and I'm currently playing KH3, which might bring me back to my other series I'm working on. Either way, this story is still on my radar.**

**Thanks for reading and see ya then!**


	4. C3: The Basics of a Phantom Thief

**Hello, fellow readers! Today's special is... another chapter! What are the sides?**

**hnh058513: Clever pun, huh? Those are neat ideas, but this series is only sticking to the EG universe.**

**Maelaeran: Oh yeah, that guy! I just realized that happened! *laughs***

**TheBeatles211: Thanks, man. Glad to hear it. Though, having just finished it by now... to me, it had so much potential and all we get is still the same confusing storytelling and gameplay that was flashy with no substance. I knew this would happen, but I wanted to be proven wrong! It's not bad, but could have been better.**

**Foxchick1: Well, here's your answer.**

**Alrighty then, here is your order! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: The Basics of a Phantom Thief**

As the group walk towards the gym, which Pinkie told them the bands are gonna be at for a little party that will include the Dazzlings, Rarity decided to start up a conversation with Twilight.

"Oh, I wish you don't have to come over here each time there's danger. I would love to hear what goes on in your world."

Spike had a doggy treat in his mouth before taking it out with his paw, "Well, a lot has happened, including..." He then hopped on ahead a bit as the group stopped, him pretending to use his treat like a trumpet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the princess of friendship!" He announced.

"A title, huh? Not bad." Joker commented.

"That's actually really impressive." Sunset complimented, "Guess you really were her star pupil."

"Oh, I just recently got it. Still have to get used to it." Twilight then decided to shift the focus, "What's been going on over here? Besides the obvious, of course."

"Well, we're able to do this now." Rainbow then pulled out her phone and showed her a video of her transforming into her pony form while playing her guitar. "And all of us are able to do this when we play. It's so cool!"

"That may also explain why we're able to switch forms here." Joker deduced.

Twilight thought about that for a moment, "It seems that even after I took my crown back home, some of its magic may have stayed here." She then thought of something, "And with all of us together, we can use that same magic against them like we did with Sunset's shadow." She then realized what she said.

"Don't worry, it's cool." Sunset shrugged it off, already knowing what's coming.

The group then continued on to their destination.

* * *

In the gym, the students stayed in their band groups away from the others, either shunning them or leering at them as the Rainbooms entered. The group entered first as Joker and Mona were sneaking to a good hiding place. The girls got into position as Rainbow was near the stage, Twilight and Rarity at the center, Sunset and Fluttershy near the windows, and finally Pinkie and Applejack near the snack table.

The plan starts when they see the Dazzlings show up, so they had a bit of time to go over it as Joker spoke to them with some earpieces he had in his bag.

_"OK, I want you girls to cause a distraction. It's risky, but we can't afford ourselves to lose the element of surprise when we have it in our deck."_ He briefly goes over before finishing with, _"Pick your targets carefully."_

Rainbow smirks a bit, already seeing her rival Trixie nearby. Twilight and Rarity got Flash, and Applejack and Pinkie got the CMCs. Sunset and Fluttershy are backup just in case things go south.

Joker and Mona were on top of the bleachers that were pushed against the wall as they hear the doors open and close, seeing their main target.

The Dazzlings walk inside, seeing the groups separated as they expected. They stopped near the punch table when Adagio spoke.

"Aww, the bands aren't mingling. It's like there's some underlying tension just ready to burst." She smirks at this fact.

"It's the fruit punch, isn't it? I knew I used too much grape juice!" Sonata held a bottle of apple juice in one hand and a cup in the other, making Aria roll her eyes.

Adagio placed her hand on her forehead in annoyance, "It's not the punch, it's us."

"But the punch is awful too." Aria said offhandedly.

"What do you know about good fruit punch!?" Sonata questioned, pointing a finger at Aria.

"More than you." Aria moved her hand away.

"Do not." Sonata slightly pushed her hand into Aria's face briefly.

"Do too." Aria flicked her hair a bit to make it messy, which Sonata straightened before Adagio stepped in.

"This is just the kickoff party, girls. Imagine how much of a tizzy it will be once the competition starts." She taps her fingers against each other in anticipation as the three look on over the gym.

Seeing the Dazzlings watching, the girls started their plan. Rainbow walks on over to Trixie, who immediately was taunting her.

"Well, well, well. if it isn't Rainbow Dash. Trixie was expecting you to show up eventually. Though, it's funny that you're late despite being fast." Trixie obviously wanted her to take the bait, but she knew she would try that.

"Yeah, I got caught up in overhearing a band saying how lame yours was." Rainbow's bait was taken as Trixie gasped.

"What!? Who dares insults the Great and Powerful Trixie!?" Trixie shouted.

As that conversation was happening, Twilight and Rarity was talking with Flash.

"I was expecting you to show up sooner or later. Guess the competition is getting around." He looks around for any other new faces.

"You could say that, yeah. My friends were competing as well, so I figured why not." Twilight knew it would be a good icebreaker if she went first.

"Oh, Flash! I just heard the most horrid news!" Rarity however decided to try out acting for this as she stepped in.

"What's up?" Flash was a bit confused at her behavior.

"I overheard one of the bands was planning to smash your instruments so you couldn't compete! A bunch of ruffians, I say!" Rarity's bait worked as Flash crushed the empty cup in his hand.

"Those cheaters!" He growled.

Finally, Applejack was talking with his sister, Apple Bloom along with her two friends Sweetie Belle and Scoutaloo.

"I'm impressed you three wanted to enter! It would be nice to have some friendly competition." She started with.

"Of course we would! As the Crusaders, we'll take on any challenge!" Apple Bloom proudly claimed.

"That's funny, because don't tell anyone I said this but..." Pinkie then kneels down between the three, "I overheard one of the bands calling you three bad singers."

She then stood up, "And I was like, 'No, they're not!' and they then said 'Uh huh!'. I think it was those guys over there."

Pinkie pointed to a random band in the corner, the CMCs taking the bait as they stomped over.

With their plan set in motion, Joker and Mona waited as the gym was getting filled with arguments with the girls making sure not to get caught in it as they walked towards the bleachers.

"Well, this is getting quite heated, would you say?" Adagio watched the arguments with glee as she said that.

"Is it hot in here? Maybe I should wore something lighter." Sonata still wasn't getting what she was saying.

"It's actually colder than it was yesterday." Aria muttered, "Though, the bands are getting in each others' faces."

"Exactly. Sonata, please look before you speak. Can you do that for me?" Adagio is pleading at this point, getting tired of her obviousness.

"Oh. OK." She simply said in response.

Seeing the green mist appear once again, the three lined up to receive it. However, this was the moment the thieves were waiting for.

"Ready, Mona?" Joker made sure Mona had his sword and slingshot before they started.

Mona aimed his slingshot with a steel pellet to where the gems were connected to their necklaces and let it fly.

Joker used his Third Eye to time his turn just right, leaping down just as the first gem was knocked off. The second gem gets knocked off as he landed his feet on the floor below and finally the third gem flew as Joker dashed in. Like a shadow, he swiftly grabbed the gems out of the air before landing near one of the exits.

The Dazzlings opened their eyes to see the mist is still around, only to realize their gems were gone.

"What!?" The girls panicked at this until they heard a whistle.

Turning towards the noise, they see the culprit with their gems in his hand before he exited.

"After him!" Adagio ordered as the three ran after him.

Mona hopped down to the ground near the girls, "Let's go!"

As they headed out towards the courtyard, Joker was running through the halls with the Dazzlings hot on his trail as intended. His movement was swift as he ran, practically drifting at each turn as the girls were trying their best to keep up. Reaching a staircase to the second floor, he stopped at the foot of it to jiggle the gems in his hand as a way to taunt them before heading on up.

"Get back here!" Adagio was not happy at all as she was leaping up the stairs with the other two behind her.

The group were heading down to the nurse's office to pick up Yu, who is actually just leaving.

"Thank you, nurse." He simply said to the nurse.

"Just remember, keep applying ice to it every now and then." Nurse Redheart reminded him.

"Yeah." Once she closed the door, Yu sees the group running at him until they stopped.

"Hey, Yu! Sorry about the bruise, but we can't really talk right now! We'll explain later!" Rainbow rapid-fired her words as she grabbed Yu's hand to bring him along.

"Wait, where are we-" The only words Yu was able to get out before getting dragged against his will.

* * *

Reaching the second floor, Joker quickly turned the corner and crouched in the shadows as the Dazzlings reached the top and looked down the hall.

"Where did he go!?" This time, it was Aria that was yelling.

"When we find him, he'll regret stealing our gems!" Adagio growled as Joker snuck past them back down the stairs.

"I like his mask." The two glared at Sonata, "I mean, he's gonna pay!"

Hearing a whistle again, the three look down the stairs to see their thief smirk before turning the corner.

"How did he DO that!?" Adagio wasn't having this.

Reaching the bottom, Joker then sees an elevator next to the stairs and pressed the up button to open it just in time to hear the girls coming down the stairs. Quickly going in and pressing the top floor, the doors closed as Adagio made it to the bottom and saw him through the small opening before closing completely.

"Idiot. The elevator, back up!" Adagio leaped up the stairs with the two sighing before following.

Joker then contacted the group, "Status?"

_"Got Seeker. Heading to rendezvous point."_ Mona answered.

"On my way." Looking up, he sees the elevator's size was just enough.

Reaching the top, Adagio stood outside the elevator doors as Aria and Sonata were catching their breath.

"Nowhere to run now." Adagio muttered as the doors opened.

She blinked once and even twice before Aria spoke, "Where is he?"

The elevator was empty as the three entered it, "He was here! Can he disappear now!?"

Unbeknownst to them, Joker was right above them with his limbs stretched out fully to keep him in place. Seeing all three of them inside, he grabbed the door frame and swung himself through the opening, landing in the hall. He turns around just as Adagio does, seeing her glare right at him before he sprinted down the hall this time.

"I'm getting sick of this!" Adagio was at the end of her line, ready to explode if she catches him.

The three ran down after him, which Joker will admit that he's having a bit of fun, as he reaches the door that lead to the roof. Kicking it open, he leaps up onto the railing and climbed up to reach the top of the stairwell. He then hears the door below slam against the wall as he opens the door, telling him that they're not far behind as he runs across the roof.

Reaching the ledge, he looks down to see the courtyard, but not the group.

"Status?" Joker contacted them again.

_"Just reached the foyer. Almost there."_ Mona answered.

He then hears the door to the roof slam open, seeing the Dazzlings breathing heavily and are not happy.

"Nowhere to go, nowhere to run. You will give us back the gems... or else!" Adagio was practically barking at him as the three now stood a few feet away.

Seeing the situation, he decides to stall and maybe even get out some info if he's lucky.

"Tell me, why are you doing this? I doubt it's just for fun." Joker started with.

The girls knew he had nowhere to go, so they decided to humor him.

"Very well. We're here to reclaim our lost power and have everyone in this pathetic little world adore us." Adagio answered, "Is that really so wrong?"

"There are other ways to get people to like you." Joker brought up.

"We already seen what these people are like. Some can be so cruel." Aria retorts.

"Yeah, some can be real meanies." Sonata added with a bit of a somber tone.

Joker then hears a familiar sound, signaling his getaway.

"Now, if you would be so kind..." Adagio walks towards him with her hand outstretched.

Joker looks at the gems in his hand for a moment, "You bring up good points." He simply said as he then looks at her, "However, here's my counterpoint."

* * *

Exiting out into the courtyard, the group headed down the steps before stopping.

"Where's Ren?" Rainbow was the first to notice as the other girls looked around.

"What happened to him?" Yu was now concerned about the situation.

"Morgana, Transform!" The group hears Mona call out as he then jumped into the air, transforming again into... a van?

"Uh, what?" Applejack summed up everyone's reaction.

"No time! Ladies first!" Morgana simply said as he opened the back doors.

"You heard him." Yu then allowed the girls to go inside.

Sunset, Twilight and Spike sat up front as Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack got the back seats with Rainbow, Pinkie and Yu getting in the far back before Morgana closed the doors.

"Sunset, I need you to be my eyes. Look up to the school roof." Morgana ordered.

Sunset nodded as the driver's seat window rolled down for her to stick her head out. Looking at where he said, she sees Joker at the ledge of the roof.

"I see him." She confirms for him.

"OK, tell me when he jumps." That got everyone's attention now.

"Jump!?" The girls and even Yu repeated in shock.

Sunset was shocked too, but kept her eyes on Joker. Soon after, he leaped off the ledge towards the ground.

"Now!" Sunset shouted, signaling Morgana to form a soft landing for him.

On the car roof, it turns inside out for the cushion to replace the hard metal.

Watching him fall, she sees him do a corkscrew flip before he landed on his intended target. Bouncing upwards, he went up towards the drivers side and grabbed the side of the van. Seeing where this was going, Sunset pulls her head back in to move back into the middle seat as Joker swings himself inside through the open window, landing in the driver's seat.

"Sorry for the wait." Even after his stunt, he has time for a bit of humor before grabbing the wheel. "Hold on tight!"

The group doing just that as the van stepped on the gas, swerving past the statue before getting on the street and away from the school, leaving the Sirens in the dust.

**And done! This is the most obvious change I added. Yup, the Phantom Thieves actually being thieves! Gasp!**

** But I know what you're thinking, how is the story gonna go now if the Dazzlings don't have their power source? That's for me to know and you to find out!**

**I had a fun time writing this one, so I hope this came out okay. Like the last chase scene I did, there was some ideas that I didn't do in the final cut. There were just small ones for Joker to show off more, though.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and see ya next chapter!**


	5. C4: A Well-Deserved Party

**Hello, fellow readers! What's on our menu today?**

**Maelaeran: Cause that's creepy... and kinda boring. The chase was more fun.**

**Foxchick1: Right there with ya.**

**TheBeatles211: Thanks. It's all right, as long as you got to read it.**

**Melchizedek: I can tell.**

**Good choices. Please, enjoy!**

**Chapter 4: A Well-Deserved Party**

The van was going down a street at normal speed with Joker casually driving as the girls just finished telling Yu their plan against the Dazzlings.

"Impressive. Glad to hear you guys defused the situation before it got worse." Yu complimented their thinking.

"Yeah. Which reminds me..." Without taking his eyes off the road, Joker took out the gems and handed them to Sunset. "Request successful."

"This is great! Those girls can't use their magic now!" Sunset cheered.

"True, but that's not exactly everything." Twilight sheepishly mentioned.

"Wait, there's more?" Rainbow made sure she didn't hear it wrong.

"Yeah. I read that after StarSwirl sent them here, he had to perform a spell to counter their charm." Twilight recalled.

"A counter spell?" Sunset repeated, "Like, a song to reverse the singing by the Sirens?"

"That's what I thought too." Twilight places her fist on her chin, "However, the spell he wrote wasn't in the book."

"I knew there was a catch." Joker commented as he stopped the van at a red light.

"And I don't know any musical spells." Twilight added, "But, I'm sure I can figure it out."

"That's kind of how she earned her title." Spike mentions.

"I finished a spell that had caused a big problem when I accidentally cast it too early." Twilight corrected, "But, that's not the case here."

"This just came to mind, but do we have to perform it more than once to break the spell on everyone?" Applejack asked.

"That's where the showcase comes in." Yu answered.

"Of course! That's where they'll be anyways." Rainbow added.

"Well, while we're thinking of all this..." Joker then drove straight as the light turns green, "I'm hungry. How about I make dinner for us?"

"Oh, Ren! You're such a gentleman." Rarity complimented.

"And we can use my house!" Pinkie offered, "Slumber party at my place!"

"A-A slumber party?" Morgana's voice surprised the girls a bit.

"Oh yeah, I forgot Morgana was the van." Sunset chuckled a bit.

"But first, where's the grocery store?" Joker asked since he doesn't know the town.

* * *

After getting to the grocery store and parked in a place with no one around, Joker reverted back to Ren as they exited the van. Once they did, Morgana transformed back into his cat form and went into his red slingbag that Pinkie revealed that she had their stuff in... her hair?

Either way, once Ren put on the slingbag and Spike went in Twilight's bag, the group entered the store to receive the ingredients. Turns out that Pinkie needed some extra stuff for their party, so the group split up for both objectives. Ren walked in the spices aisle as he walked with Yu, Sunset, and Twilight.

"So, what are you thinking of cooking up?" Yu was curious on what it was.

"Nothing much. Just a recipe I was given from the boss." Ren decides to keep it a secret as he looks through the shelves.

"I'm impressed you're able to cook." Sunset commented.

"You sound like you're surprised." Ren jokes as he takes a couple of spices.

"I'm curious, what do you guys eat for food?" Twilight wonders as she looks at their surroundings.

Ren lead the way to another aisle as Yu answers, "Well, humans are omnivores, which means they eat meat and vegetables. I'm guessing ponies aren't like that?"

"No. We have animals that eat meat, but ponies like me mainly eat plants, vegetables and fruits." Twilight explains.

As they walk down another aisle, they saw one of the students from their school reaching for some apple cider near the top shelf.

It was a girl with two-toned electric blue hair that had a pair of light blue headphones over her ears, wearing a white jacket with blue linings that has a matching skirt with a black music note, purple pants with lighter lavender lightning bolt patterns, and blue sneakers. She had purple-tinted sunglasses over her eyes as she looks around, seeing the group.

"Hi. Do you need help?" Yu offered.

She simply nods in response, which Yu gladly reached up just enough to grab the edges of it and brought it down to her.

"Thanks." The girl simply said as she went off.

"Wait, wasn't she in the cafeteria when the Sirens sung?" Sunset remembered seeing her there.

"Yeah. Yet, she doesn't seem to be acting like the others." Yu supports her claim.

"Must be her headphones." Ren pointed to the pair she had on her head as she turned the corner.

"True, she always listens to her music." Sunset hasn't see her without them ever since she met her.

"Well either way, that's one less to worry about." Yu concludes as they went to the other aisles.

After getting the ingredients, they met up with the others where Pinkie had half of her cart filled with one thing.

"Does one person need this much whip cream?" Sunset asked what the others were thinking.

"Don't worry, this is only my backup cream." Pinkie answered, further confusing them as they look at the others.

"We don't know either..." Applejack spoke for them, leaving them to wonder as Pinkie and Ren went to the cash register.

* * *

After buying their stuff and leaving the store to head out with the Monamobile, the group drove to Pinkie's house as the sun was setting. Once they arrived, someone else has already at the door when she notices them.

"Hey, Maud! I brought my friends over for a slumber party!" Pinkie called out to her as they exited the van.

Pinkie was quick to bring Maud over to the others for introductions, "Guys, this is my sister Maud! Maud, these are my friends-" Taking a deep breath, she then list them down.

"Ren, Yu, Twilight, Spike, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow-" She then popped up next to the van, "And Morgana!"

The group was silent as Maud looked at the van, "That's a van." She pointed out in a deadpan voice, which they don't blame her on that.

"I'm no normal van, miss." Morgana then transformed back into his cat form and walks up to her, "There's more to me than meets the eye."

The group was expecting some sort of reaction, but Maud didn't even flinch at the change as she looked at the cat. "Cool."

_"Wha-!? Her face didn't change at all!"_ Morgana showed surprise as his mind processed this.

"And it's nice to meet you all." Maud simply said with a rather monotone voice, which the group were kinda taken aback at.

"N-Nice to meet you too." Yu was the first to recover from this to greet her back.

Seeing the sisters next to each other, they can tell the differences between them better.

Maud had turquoise colored eyes with grayish violet eyeshadow that matched her hair color and bluish gray skin while she wore a simple grayish violet dress with a black belt and black boots.

If Pinkie didn't point it out, Ren and Yu would not have figured they were related.

"Ren was planning on cooking for us!" Pinkie told her, which Maud simply looks at him.

"How nice of you. Pinkie usually cooks and she makes interesting dishes." Her voice didn't change a pitch as she spoke.

"What kind of dishes?" Yu was a bit curious at that before a low growl came from his stomach.

"Looks like I'm not the only hungry one. Let's continue inside." Ren lead the way as Pinkie opened the door for them.

Once they entered, the group headed towards the kitchen to prepare food. As Ren cooked, Yu was talking with the girls at the dining table.

"A 'chimicherrychanga'?" Yu only knows of the chimichanga they had in his world.

"It's pretty much a dessert." Maud simply said.

"And it's super good!" Pinkie chimed in.

"I'll admit, it is delicious. Though, it can be a bit messy." Rarity remembers the last time she tried one.

"You even got it on your shirt." Fluttershy recalls her freaking out over it.

"It was a brand new one I bought! I had to wash it before the stains set in!" Rarity sighs after saying that.

"Not as messy as those hot sauce cupcakes she made once at a party." Applejack chuckled a bit at that, "Had students burning their tongues like hot pepper."

"I remember those..." Twilight shuddered a bit at the memory, "Didn't have a cupcake for a long while after that."

Sunset raised an eyebrow at the hot dessert as Rainbow spoke, "Speaking of cupcakes, I liked the ones she made for my birthday last year."

"You mean those with the rainbow-colored frosting?" Sunset saw pictures of them that Rainbow showed on her phone once.

Yu then had a familiar smell hit his nostrils that was coming from the kitchen. It smelled good, but it brought up some memories that sent chills down his spine for a moment.

"Mmm, that smells good." Sunset caught the scent as well as Morgana walked out of the kitchen to the table.

"Ladies and gents, may I present to you... your dinner." Morgana had a dramatic presentation as Ren stepped out of the kitchen with many plates before transforming into his bipedal form to help out.

Yu instantly recognized the dish as curry, which made the bad memories come back full force and froze him where he sat. Once the others got a plate of curry in front of them, Ren and Morgana sat down in their seats.

"This is the curry that the boss usually makes at his cafe when I stayed there. He gave me the recipe for it before I left." Ren spoke fondly of Sojiro, who he sees now as family.

"Curry, huh? Ah never really had this before," Applejack admits.

"There's a first for everything. Go ahead." Morgana encouraged them.

The girls were curious as they each took a bite, with various reactions.

"Sweet."

"Yet, spicy!"

"Tender..."

"And rich..."

"This is amazing!"

Ren smiles at the positive reactions until he looks at Yu, who was glancing at the others before taking a bite himself. Once he did, his face turns from nervousness to happiness as tears started to form in his eyes.

"You all right, man?" Ren was confused at his reaction.

Yu was silent for a moment before closing his eyes and smiled, "...You made me love curry again."

Ren chuckled a bit at that, "You're welcome."

Once they had their fill of curry, which there was some leftovers since Pinkie wanted to bake desserts, Maud told them that she had some homework she still had to do before heading to her room. After Pinkie finished baking many cookies and they ate almost half of them before being full, the group got into their pajamas with Yu and Ren picking out some clothes from the bags.

Ren wore a black long-sleeved shirt with olive sleep pants while Yu wore a aqua v-collar shirt, gray plaid trousers and tan slippers.

As the group lounged around in Pinkie's room, she was typing on her laptop to update her social status while Yu and Ren played a fighting game with Rainbow and Applejack, Rarity taking a selfie with Fluttershy and Sunset as Morgana and Spike popped up from behind to ruin it, and Twilight is sitting on the bed writing the counter-spell in Fluttershy's notebook.

"You almost got him, Applejack!" Rainbow's voice made Twilight look up from her work.

She wasn't sure how video games work, but it sounded like they were playing teams.

"Switch out, Yu!" Ren ordered, which Yu immediately did once his character got his feet on the ground.

Ren's character dashes in as he presses buttons to attack, making Applejack's character go on the defensive.

"Rainbow, I'm switching out!" Applejack gave a heads-up to her partner, which Rainbow held her controller ready.

However, Ren's character did enough damage in his combo to knock out her character, leaving Rainbow on her own.

"Don't worry, I can bring this back!" Rainbow reassures as her character dashes in.

The two characters were having a pretty even match and occasionally clashes their attacks before Rainbow started getting the upper hand. Yu saw Ren's health bar was getting low, "Tag me in!" He ordered.

Ren's character guard pushes Rainbow's away enough to switch out for Yu's character to dash into the fight. Thankfully, he managed to recover some health to last the fight, but Rainbow's experience with the game mechanics kept him on his toes.

After a couple of backs and forwards, Rainbow managed to break Yu's guard and take him out in a combo, leaving Ren left.

"I got this!" Ren pushes up his glasses right before his character dashes in the fight.

Thanks to the recovered health, he and Rainbow were still evenly matched in their battle. Yu and Applejack watched on as the two then perform the character's supers, colliding on impact with the damage to end it.

"Draw!" The game's announcer called the result, leaving the four stunned for a moment.

"All of that... for a draw!?" Rainbow groaned at this as Ren sighs.

"It was a good match." Yu simply said.

"You're telling me. It's been awhile since me and Rainbow had a challenge." Applejack complimented.

"I played some of these with my friends." Ren recalls playing Futaba at the retro games he bought, which one was a fighting game.

"Beginner's luck." Yu admits since he doesn't play games often.

Rainbow then looks behind them to see Twilight, "Hey, Twi. How's the counter-spell coming along?"

"Uh, great!" Twilight was lying as she looks at her writing. Due to her inexperience with hands, the words were nothing but chicken scratch. "I'm getting there..."

She then turns a few pages to see Fluttershy's writing, which was much clearer, that formed a song. "I really like the song you wrote, Fluttershy."

"Thanks." She said before sighing as she squeezed a small alligator plushie, "Hopefully one day, we get to play it."

Rainbow heard this as she looks at the TV screen. Fluttershy mentions her song from time to time, but she always brushed it off to do the ones she wanted to play. Wait, was this what Yu meant earlier at school? Well, it can't really be helped. She always wants to be in the spotlight, it's just a habit. After thinking for a bit, she made her decision.

She then turns her head to look at Fluttershy, "We'll play it in the showcase, then! In fact, since I know we're gonna win, we'll play it for the finale!"

Fluttershy then had a big smile as she dropped the plushie and gave Rainbow a big hug, "Oh, thank you! Thank you, Rainbow!"

Rainbow finds herself having a tough time breathing, "Great, glad to hear it. Can't breathe..."

Fluttershy gasped as she lets her go, allowing Rainbow to catch her breath. "Sorry about that." She giggles a bit as she said that.

Yu looked at the two with a smile, glad that Rainbow is taking a step in the right direction.

**And done! Wow, this took longer than I thought! I think it's because of the fact I keep thinking ahead after this. But, I want to go in the order I wrote down and I'm doing that.**

**So, after their plan was a success, the group celebrated by having delicious curry and cookies. Also, this was one of the interactions I wanted to do is Yu tasting the curry that Ren learned from Sojiro. Just that alone made this entire chapter happen.**

**Anyways, with the marbles on the Rainbooms' side, can the Dazzlings even the playing field?**

**Find out next time, see ya later!**


	6. C5: Doubting Yourself

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back. Here's your menu. Specials? Well, we have:**

**Maelaeran: Probably the latter. Thanks, I'm glad that my efforts paid off.**

**Foxchick1: It was called 'Mystery Food X' for a reason.**

**TheBeatles211: You shall see.**

**Good choices! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5: Doubting Yourself**

"Well, this sucks. That boy ran off with our gems and our power along with it!" Aria complained as the three sat up on the roof with the moonlight shining down upon them.

"I know! You say that like I wasn't there! At least the students are still controlled." Adagio reminded her as she was rubbing her fingers against the sides of her head, trying to soothe the headache she has now.

"But, we can't absorb the negativity." Aria pointed out.

"Really? I thought we just breathe that in." Sonata said offhandedly.

Adagio simply ignored them as she remembers the events that happened earlier. As they ran after the thief, she noticed something that she recognized about him, but couldn't exactly pinpoint it.

"He was really athletic and quite intelligent. However..." She then recalled the conversation they had.

When she was walking towards him, he looked at their gems held in his hand for a moment. Did the thought of giving them back actually crossed his mind?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Sonata yawned, "I'm so sleepy..."

Aria also yawned right after her, which then leads to them laying on the ground asleep. Adagio then started to yawn herself, "Why am I... tired?"

Her eyes then started to grow heavy before she laid on the ground as well, sleeping the night away.

* * *

Opening her eyes, she finds herself and the other two in a black void before getting up to her feet. Aria and Sonata also got up to their feet as they took in their surroundings.

"Where are we?" Adagio couldn't help but feel like they were being watched, despite the darkness surrounding them as they stood near each other.

"Who knows? Your dreams... or your future?" A familiar voice responded to her or rather... herself?

Turning towards where the voice came from, she finds herself face to face with themselves. The only difference is that their eye color was an ominous yellow as they looked at them with a blank expression.

"Are you us?" Aria was skeptical at this, which is understandable.

"They copied our look!" Sonata was just being herself.

"Oh please, you copied our look!" The other Sonata was just as dumb, apparently.

"Enough!" The other Adagio silenced the two before speaking, "We are you. Your 'true selves', so to speak."

"To make it short, we are what you hide even from yourselves." Aria added to avoid confusion.

"All right. If you are our 'true selves', why haven't you spoke to us until now?" Adagio was doubting their case.

"Must be the Equestrian magic that this school has. It was used on that Sunset girl, remember?" The other Adagio reminded them.

The three shadows started to walk around the originals as Sonata spoke, "Are we playing a game?"

"Oh! I want to lead!" The other Sonata chimed in.

"No, you idiot. We're not here for games." The other Aria denied.

"Good, I'm not in the mood." Aria said offhandedly.

"We are here to substitute for the power you lost. However, it'll have quite the price." The other Adagio offered as the shadows continued to walk around them.

Adagio thinks about it for a moment, "And that would be...?"

"Oh you know, the usual like-" The other Sonata was cut off as the other Adagio places a hand over her mouth.

"Overusing them will be taxing on you, that's all." The other Aria summarized.

The originals looked at each other as Adagio continues to think. She knows that there are more to the offer, but remembers that they're basically powerless right now due to the gem thief. That angered her to no end, which leads to her making the decision.

"Very well." Her answer took Aria and Sonata a bit by surprise.

"Wait, we don't even know if this will work!" Aria was very irritated since they have no idea what this will entail.

"And you have a better opinion? Oh wait, you don't." Adagio retorted.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Sonata was surprisingly somber as all this was so sudden.

"Look, this is all we got. We pass this up and we're stuck like this permanently." Adagio did bring up a good point.

"...Fine. Just don't cry when it backfires." Aria groaned as Sonata simply nodded in agreement.

Adagio rolled her eyes at her comment, "Whatever."

The three then turned towards the shadows, who's patience started to dwindle a bit as the other Adagio tapped her foot in a rhythm subconsciously, "So, do we have a deal?" She held out her hand, waiting.

Adagio walks towards her after a brief moment of hesitation and shook her hand before feeling a sharp pain in her head. She couldn't keep her eyes open because of it, not seeing her shadow's smile.

* * *

Twilight woke up in the middle of the night, looking out towards the moon outside before looking around the room to see her friends sleeping. Yu and Ren slept near the wall with Morgana sleeping next to Ren's head as Twilight got up to her feet, carefully walking across the room to avoid waking the others before reaching the drawer near the bed. Opening the top one to reveal Fluttershy's notebook she was borrowing before taking it out to work on the counter spell, unaware of someone else being awake as she left the room.

Walking into the kitchen, she placed the notebook on the island counter and held the pen in her hand before realizing she can use her mouth instead. Writing down words that were a bit more cohesive, the lyrics for the song were still a bit on the bland side as she moved the pen across the paper.

Only a couple of minutes pass before she let go of the pen, allowing it to hit the counter with a quiet thud as she sighed.

"No, that's not gonna work..." She muttered to herself before rubbing her eyes to wake herself up a bit.

"Hey, Twilight."

Twilight jumped a bit at the sudden voice, looking towards the door frame to see Sunset. "Sunset? I'm sorry if I wake you."

"No, I actually couldn't sleep that much. Still working on the counter spell?" Sunset asked as she walks towards the fridge.

"Yeah. It has to be perfect or it won't work." Twilight sighed a bit as Sunset places her hand on the fridge handle.

"Well, it's nice that we have you guys here." Sunset commented before opening the fridge door, revealing it to be full of cans of whipped cream. "OK, who needs this much whipped cream?"

"We are in Pinkie's house." Twilight chuckled a bit at that, knowing the Pinkie from her world would have the same.

"...Good point." Sunset shrugged at that before taking out one of the cans.

She then sprayed a small dollop on one of her fingers before sucking on it. "Must be nice to have everyone come to you for a solution... rather than waiting for you to make a problem."

Twilight looks down at the notebook to read the pages she recently written on, seeing just more scribbles and mistakes she had. "Well, just because they expect something, it'll only make them disappointed when it doesn't happen."

"You can't just expect them to... not expect something when bad things happen." Sunset places her free hand on her hip as she said this.

"Which only makes things harder, because the last thing you want is-"

"Let everyone down." The two looked at each other after saying that simultaneously.

Sunset was a bit surprised that Twilight had doubts like this too, despite being a princess. She then places the can back inside before closing the fridge, turning back around-

"Wah!" Only to be surprised at Maud standing at the counter next to her, wearing her night clothes which were a white t-shirt and blue short shorts.

It seemed that her yelp attracted someone as Yu appeared at the doorway, looking at the three before speaking. "What happened?"

"Boulder was hungry." Maud kept her monotone voice as she opened a cabinet above her to pull out a box of small crackers.

She slowly poured them into her hand that had Boulder as she left, leaving the kitchen as Sunset whispered to Twilight.

"I still can't believe her and Pinkie are related." She uttered to her.

"Tell me about it." Twilight knows the Maud from her world, remembering when they met her before seeing Yu walk in. "Did we wake you?"

"No, I used the bathroom earlier. I was on my way back before hearing Sunset." Yu answered.

"Sorry, she surprised me." Sunset sheepishly rubbed the back of her head as she said that.

"What are you two doing up?" Yu was curious about that.

"I'm just working on the counter spell." Twilight holds up the notebook to prove it.

"I couldn't sleep." Sunset simply answered.

Yu briefly nodded at that before looking at the notebook, "Mind if I see it?"

"Oh, sure." Twilight was a bit hesitant before handing it to him.

Yu opens it to the most recent page that had writing on it, seeing her handwriting was...

"I'm impressed you're able to read this." Yu was blunt, leaving the two girls taken back a bit.

"Well, I'm not used to having these." Twilight raises her hands to emphasize her point.

"Oh." Yu remembers that Twilight wasn't from this world, let alone another species before handing the notebook back.

"Honestly, I knew it was her handwriting since I wrote like that when I arrived here." Sunset surprised a lot of people with her handwriting back then, "Don't worry, you'll get used to them."

"I hope so." Twilight then closes the notebook before having a question pop in her head, "Yu, you and Ren are leaders of your groups, right?"

"Yeah." Yu listened intently as she continued.

"Do you also... have doubts about your friends looking to you for answers?" Twilight didn't want to beat around the bush with him.

"Of course." Yu had no hesitation in his answer, "I always hope that each decision was the right one. One wrong step could have cost us a lot."

"...Were there anything that they disagreed with you on?" Sunset doubted every decision he made was something the others would just follow.

Yu was silent for a moment before looking away, "Let's just say... I would have done something that I would have regretted if my friends didn't talk me out of it."

Twilight and Sunset were curious, but seeing the look on his face stopped them from asking any further. Yu realizes the silence and tries to break it, "Sorry, didn't mean to bring the mood down."

"No, it's all right. I asked." Sunset shrugs off, mainly to keep the conversation going.

"Why did you ask, anyways?" Yu was curious about the sudden question.

"Just wanted to get a second opinion." Twilight simply answered.

Yu came to the conclusion that they had a conversation earlier about this, "I see. Glad to be of help. Just be sure to remember that in a group, everyone's decisions matters."

Sunset and Twilight processed the advice as Yu then lets out a yawn, "I better get back to bed. See you two in the morning." He said before turning around to head back.

"I guess you're gonna continue working?" Sunset asked Twilight.

"Yeah, still gotta work out some lyrics." Twilight opened the notebook and picked up the pen as Sunset spoke, "OK, just don't stay up too late. We have to rehearse before the showcase. Good luck with the counter spell."

"Thanks." Twilight then stopped for a moment before calling out, "Sunset?"

Sunset stops at the doorway to look at her, "Yeah?"

Twilight then finds herself forgetting what she wanted to say, "Never mind. It's not important."

"You sure?" Sunset knew she wouldn't just say that for no reason.

"Yeah. See you in the morning." Twilight gives her a small smile in response.

"...OK." With that, Sunset headed back to bed.

Twilight looks at the scribbles in the notebook while holding the pen in her hand, "I only hope this will be enough to make a sensible song." She muttered to herself.

**And done! This may be a bit shorter, but this is just to get back into the swing of things.**

**So, that's my idea for the Dazzlings, which shouldn't really be surprising.**

** As for Twilight and Sunset, I always like this scene as it gives more insight into their thoughts on the current situation as well as past experiences. I added Yu there since A) He has experience with this, B) Ren needs a break from before, and C) I want to give him more screen time.**

**So, what shall happen now? We shall see next chapter!**


	7. C6: New Danger

**Hello, fellow readers! So, what do we have:**

**Maelaeran: Makes sense since the Shadows have similarities with the originals. I find it sad that we never seen them after this movie, so since I'm writing this, I shall be merciful upon the three.**

**TheBeatles211: OK, Twilight and Spike is a given since they are usually there. The reason why I let Morgana join is because, spoilers, he is technically a resident of the Velvet Room and is currently living with Ren. **

**Teddie is a giant talking bear costume, which is not very subtle in a school setting and makes him ineffective during at least a majority of three of the movies. I know you want to make it fair, but there's also just my opinion on the character. Honestly, I tolerate him. He's an interesting character that has some funny moments along with his journey of self-identity, but the later games just left a sour taste with how he was treated, not really giving him anything else but comic relief.**

**Plus, the contrast between what the sidekicks are capable of is just jarring.**

**Morgana: A special cat that has a cartoony bipedal form to fight in and a van form to help with transportation.**

**Teddie: A cartoon bear costume that defies logic and has a human form that grew from sit-ups along with his own arsenal of weapons.**

**Spike: A colorful talking dog.**

**Sorry about the mini-rant, but I wanted to give my reasons as to why I do/don't use certain characters in my stories. Whether it's personal feelings, not wanting to go against canon material too much, or if I even remember that they're there. (Remember that Spike joke back in C2? I wasn't joking about that.) But of course, I might change my mind later down the line.**

**All right, let's get going!**

**Chapter 6: New Danger**

The group woke up a little bit earlier than usual in order to get some practice. After they got dressed and got their instruments from the other girls' houses, they arrived at the farm where Applejack's family was. Applejack told Granny Smith and Big Mac earlier that they needed the farm to rehearse at, which they were all right with.

Yu and Ren recognized Granny Smith as the lunch lady and Big Mac from helping Applejack before for the Fall Formal.

Granny Smith had light lime green skin with brilliant orange eyes and light gray hair tied up in a bun. She wore her lunch lady attire, which consisted of a tied orange scarf with red polka dots, a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows with yellow gloves, a long red skirt that reaches past her knees and had a white apron, ending with boots that was yellow as well to match her gloves.

Big Mac had pale light amaranth skin with sap green eyes and light gamboge hair. He wore a white t-shirt under a red jacket with a brown collar and the sleeves rolled up past the elbows, brown wristbands, blue pants with a leather belt, ending with red and white sneakers.

Yu, Ren, Morgana and Spike were their audience as the Rainbooms played their set to warm up with. It helped that Twilight was a fast learner with the lyrics to the other songs, which she was given main singer in the group with Rainbow doing backup for once temporarily. She still was a great singer from before in the cafeteria until they got to the counter spell, going straight downhill as she started going off-key for some reason. Thankfully, they were the only ones hearing this. but Yu and Ren notices the others were lacking any interest during the song.

After the first attempt, Sunset was the first to speak up. "That... wasn't bad."

"The lyrics were all over the place." Ren simply said.

"That's not all." Yu then walks over to the group, "Twilight, do you write your own songs?"

"No, they usually just come to me." That answer pretty much explains it.

"And the songs she sings are fantastic." Spike added.

"That may be true, but a written song is different from an improvised one." Yu explains as he paces a bit, "Without having an idea of how it goes, it's just noise."

"Well, how do you think we should play it?" Rainbow was still annoyed at the fact that the others were not really trying that hard.

"Hmm... here, I'll give an example." Yu then walks over to Applejack, "May I?"

Applejack simply shrugged her shoulders and handed him her bass. He puts on the strap over his shoulder before playing a few notes.

"You play bass?" Applejack asked.

"Only once. We did a little concert to help my partner out of a jam at his mall job and we had to get up on stage with our friend Rise to make it work." Yu casually answered to the surprise of Ren and Morgana.

"Wait, one of your friends is THE Rise?" Ren recalls seeing posters of 'Sapphire' with her on it in the city.

"Yeah. We met her when she was in hiatus." Yu answers before playing a few more notes to refresh his memory.

"Lucky." Morgana muttered to himself.

"Is she that popular in your world?" Rarity voiced the band's curiosity.

"She's quite the sensation. She already released a new album before going on hiatus again." Ren remembers that from the news during his stay at Cafe Leblanc.

"Anyways, I think I got something." Yu calls out to get their attention, "If the Sirens sing slow and sinister, then shouldn't the counter spell be the opposite?"

"Oh! Oh! Like this!" Pinkie then rapidly played a beat on her drums to emphasize her point.

"Yeah. Should be upbeat like this." Yu then starts a short riff that was at a moderate tempo.

Listening to the beat, Pinkie then hopped back in with a steady rhythm on her drums while Rainbow starts a riff alongside Yu. Soon after, the others joined in as Twilight sung the lyrics again, this time with her singing voice being a bit better.

_[Twilight]_

_Hey, hey, listen_  
_We've got a message for you_

The audience were still cringing a bit from the lyrics, but they were more tolerable with the better singing. Sunset adjusted a speaker a bit to avoid feedback just in case as the song continued.

_We're not all alike_  
_But our friendship is true_  
_Yeah, we're really different_  
_But we still get along_  
_So hey, hey, listen to our song_

Now that the song had more structure, the magic in the music was starting to form as white light formed around the girls, slowly growing into silhouettes of the pony forms.

_You may think you're in control_  
_But we're here to prove you wrong_  
_With our friendship and our music_  
_With the power of our song_

The ears were almost fully formed, giving the group more confidence as the song ended.

_Gonna stomp our feet, clap our hands_  
_With the magic of friendship_  
_Gonna stop your evil plan_

Rainbow played a final riff to finish things off with before looking around. The others had their ears formed in white light before disappearing entirely.

"That's more like it!" Applejack clapped with the audience as Yu took the strap off his shoulder before handing the bass back to her.

"At least the lyrics rhymed." Sunset pointed out.

"Sounds more like a nursery rhyme." Ren added.

"Though, I honestly think we should take a break for now." Rarity suggested.

The others didn't disagree with that since they were practicing nonstop until now. After getting some apple juice for refreshments, Rarity spoke up again.

"Now that we are resting, I would like to offer a few suggestions for our band wardrobe." She then pulled out a mobile hanger of clothes from... somewhere before looking through them.

"For goodness sake..." Ren caught Applejack muttering to herself in annoyance before Rarity chose one of the designs, "I like this one preferably."

It was interesting as it was a sparkling lavender jacket with gold trimming and epaulettes on the shoulders. "Though, maybe we should do something a bit more modern."

"Rarity, we're trying to save our school." Applejack reminded her with a bit of irritation, "Enough with the costumes!"

Somehow, Rarity already changed into some sort of techno outfit, a yellow suit covering from the neck to her feet while wearing a robotic helmet with three blue diamonds glowing on the black visor. She gasped before speaking, "You can NEVER have enough costumes!"

"...When did she change again?" Morgana whispered to Spike, who simply shrugged.

"She just wanna make things fun. Isn't that the point of this band?" Pinkie grumbled before performing a little rimshot.

"OK, hold up." Ren decides to step in, "Look, I understand that fashion isn't a major factor when it comes to music, but there's nothing wrong with adding a bit of style to make the band stand out."

"Thank you! That's all I wanted to do." Rarity agreed with his points.

The conversation was then interrupted as a loud alarm came from Sunset's phone, which she checks and gasps at what she saw.

"Don't mean to interrupt, but we need to check in for the showcase in fifteen minutes!" She exclaimed.

Upon hearing this, the girls quickly started to pack their band equipment as Twilight was still processing this info. "But, the counter spell isn't ready! If we play it now and it doesn't work, the Sirens might catch on and not let us get another chance at it!"

The six stopped in their tracks as Yu answered, "Then we just have to stall until it is."

"Yeah, we'll compete in the showcase for real! I'll take over lead vocals again and since we know the Dazzlings will be going to the finals, we have to stay in the game until then." Rainbow supported his suggestion.

"That'll be enough time, right?" Twilight was a bit hesitant at Applejack's question before answering, "Yeah, no worries."

"All right! Hop on!" Morgana had already went ahead of them to change into his van form, his doors opened for the others to get in.

Twilight stayed behind as the group got their stuff in the van before Spike spoke up from beside her, "You all right?"

"I'll be honest, Spike. This spell is much harder than I thought it would be, and it's a musical spell at that. This is my first time doing something like this." Twilight admits.

"Well, they'll be giving you more time to tweak it during the showcase. And thanks to Yu, we have something to build it on." Spike did have good points, "Don't worry, you'll figure it out."

Twilight lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "I hope you're right."

* * *

The Battle of the Bands was about to get underway in the gymnasium with the bands in their own groups on the bleachers. In front of the stage had a table for the judges, who were the principals that walked up onto the stage with Principal Celestia holding a mic to announce the first round.

"Welcome to the first ever CHS Battle of the Bands! I think I speak for all of us that this is the greatest event we have done yet!" The students cheered in excitement as the principal continued, "And we are glad that our new students encouraged us to change the showcase into a competition!"

The Dazzlings sat up at the top bleachers as they waved at their victims that were still under their charm and felt their adoration even before the contest began. Even without their gems, they knew they already won.

"But, since this is a competition, there can only be one winner." Principal Luna reminded, sparking the negativity between the bands, "Who will reach the top?"

The students then began their bickering, letting out more of the negative energy that the Sirens still unfortunately couldn't absorb.

"By now, our powers would have been close to full. However, what we have now will suffice." Adagio had a yellow spark dance across her fingers for a moment before closing her fist.

"Still, the heat from all the tension is still nice to hear." Aria commented as she held a purple flame in her palm, blowing it out before hearing Sonata yelp.

"Cold, cold, cold!" The two saw that she tried to use her ice, which she has yet to get used to as she rubbed her hands to warm them up. "Why do you two get the warmer ones?"

"...Can't help but feel there's a pun in this." Adagio muttered before hearing the doors open.

The three sees Sunset and her friends enter the gym, looking around to see the students arguing.

"Look at that. I was wondering when the Rainbooms would show." Adagio pointed out for the other two to notice.

"I don't remember them, honestly." Aria doesn't recall seeing them before.

"Hey, does that Ren guy have a twin brother?" Sonata's question got Adagio's attention, seeing Sunset and Ren from before among the group.

"Twin?" Adagio repeated to make sure she didn't mishear her.

"Yeah. Both of them have the hair." Sonata pointed it out for them.

Aria raised an eyebrow at that, but Adagio had an intense stare right at Ren.

_"The hair... she's right! That hair, that figure... those eyes."_ Adagio places the pieces together in her head before overlapping him with what he reminded her of.

The black coat, the red gloves, and finally... the white mask. A perfect match.

Adagio would have been livid, but controlled herself by taking deep breaths. Once she was done, she had a smirk on her face.

"I'm impressed, Sonata. You found our gem thief." Aria was either surprised at the realization or the fact that Adagio gave an actual compliment.

"Yay, I did something!" Sonata couldn't help but be glad and claps her hands together before sticking her tongue out at Aria, making the fire user tempted to burn her where she sat.

"However, this begs the question. How are they not under our spell?" Adagio wondered that since they aren't arguing.

"Something tells me those girls are different. Like we need another annoyance..." Aria commented.

"True. And the Equestrian magic we sensed is strong around them." Adagio felt the magic that brought them here where the girls were, but the boys had a different kind of magic that was unfamiliar.

While they know of Sunset and the five girls that made the Rainbooms, the other three stood out to them. Ren was the most obvious, but the gray-haired boy and the purple girl were new.

"Those boys would be quite the addiction, don't you think?" Adagio suggested.

"Not to rain on your parade, but the gems allowed us to hypnotize others." Aria reminded her, "How are you gonna do that if they're not even affected by it?"

"Maybe if we ask them nicely?" Sonata flinched at the glares she got, "Or not."

"Despite the fact that they are special, they are just as capable of falling apart as everyone else." Adagio explained, "All they need is a little push in the wrong direction."

Looking around at the other students, she notices a few glaring at the Rainbooms as they headed backstage. "And it looks like they'll be getting quite the shove."

* * *

The Battle of the Bands starts with the duo of Snips and Snails, who decided to perform raps with beatboxing for their music choice. Almost all of the gym was cringing at the 'rhymes' the two were saying. Adagio and Aria held their snickering as Pinkie and Sonata were actually liking the performance.

"At least you wrote actual lyrics." Ren whispered to Twilight, who couldn't help but hold her chuckles.

The song itself, thankfully, only lasted a minute before ending with the two literally dropping the mics like they won. The impact made everyone wince at the sharp feedback the mics emitted.

"Please do not drop the microphones." Celestia sternly warned them.

The two didn't seem to hear her as they walked backstage where the other bands were, "Yeah! In your faces, Rainbooms!" The two bragged, looking like idiots as they passed their opponents.

"Well, this is an easy start." Applejack tuned her bass as she said that offhandedly.

"All right, let's rock this place!" Rainbow was pumped about this before hearing Yu.

"Wait, where's Rarity?" The others noticed that she wasn't around before hearing her voice, "Right here!"

The group turned around to see Rarity wearing yet another outfit, making the band members only groaned in exasperation at this. She wore a tan ribbon tied around her head like a bandanna, a loosely hanging jacket with sequins and metal fringes hanging over the sleeves and the hem of the tan coat, a longer purple skirt, and light gray furred sandals.

"Sorry about that, I just had to wear something fabulous in front of the audience." She briefly explains to them.

"Of course you would." Applejack pinched the bridge of her nose at this before turning to the others, "Come on, don't wanna get disqualified now."

Yu, Ren and Sunset stayed behind as the Rainbooms went onstage. "Good luck!" Sunset called out, hoping that this will go well.

The girls got onstage with the audience looking on with disinterest as they set up their equipment. They expected to not get applause, but hoped to at least please the judges to succeed. Twilight moved the mic down with her hand covering it to talk to the others.

"Remember, we only need to get through the competition. We need to avoid showing off our magic for now until the counter spell is complete."

"Got it." Rainbow said confidently as she tunes her guitar, "Be cool enough to win, but not too much to let our ears and stuff pop up. So... about twenty percent less cooler."

"Which means eighty percent less for us." Applejack remarked, making Rainbow roll her eyes as she finishes tuning.

Once they were ready, Pinkie tapped her drumsticks together to help count down to start their song, "One! Two!"

_[The Rainbooms]_

_We just got the day to get ready_  
_And there's only so much time to lose_  
_Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party_  
_So let's think of something fun to do_

So far so good as they chose a rather catchy song to start with and everyone is keeping pace with each other that the three couldn't help but tap their foot to the rhythm of the song. However, they then notice trouble coming from up above on the catwalk. Three girls were attaching two big magnets to strings and were ready to lower them down over where Rarity was.

Even though Ren can climb up onto the catwalk no problem, he wouldn't be fast enough to stop the magnets that'll connect to the metal on Rarity's outfit. Seeing no other option to prevent this, Ren suddenly jumped on stage and was able to transition to dancing in tune with the song, moving across the stage while avoiding the girls.

_We don't know (we don't know) what's gonna happen_  
_We just know (we just know) it's gonna feel right  
__All our friends are here_  
_And it's time to ignite the lights!_

In one swift move at the apex of the buildup, Ren leaps up in the air and swung his knife to cut the strings, catching the magnets and putting his knife away before tossing them away.

_Shake your tail cause we're here to have a party tonight_  
_Shake your tail, shake your tail_  
_Shake your tail cause we're here to have a party tonight_  
_Shake your tail, shake your tail_

_[Twilight]_

_So what, you didn't get it right the first time_

"Ugh, boring." Pinkie overhears Scoutaloo call out with Sweetie adding to it, "Needs more explosions."

Unable to sate her desire for fun, she kicks one of her drums around while still playing before setting off a hidden party cannon from inside it. Ren kept his cool, but was still surprised that she even did that as Sunset and Yu were baffled at this. Knowing that the falling confetti will throw them off, Ren kept up his dancing as he grabs handfuls of the colorful shreds of paper.

_[Pinkie]_

_Laugh it off, no one said it is a crime_

_[Rarity]_

_Do your thing, you know you're an original_

_[Applejack]_

_Your ideas are so funny that they're criminal_

_[The Rainbooms]_

_Ohhh-ahh!_

Ren was quick enough to snatch a confetti in front of Twilight to prevent her breathing it in, doing a spin to play it off that she thankfully didn't see as her eyes were closed to focus on reaching the chorus. Sunset and Yu then sees movement up above again, now seeing the rapping duo again near a spotlight. Sunset was quick to get up there as the song continued.

_We've got the day to get ready_  
_And there's only so much time to lose_  
_Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party_  
_So let's think of something fun to do_

Sunset reached the catwalk as Snips and Snails brightens the spotlight to then shine on Fluttershy, making her succumb to stage fright before running from the light. Yu jumped in now to help out, catching Fluttershy and pulling her into a dance with him.

"Just follow my lead." Yu said to her, not noticing her blushing a bit.

Snips and Snails were annoyed at this, too focused on them before getting pulled into a headlock.

"You had your moment in the spotlight." Sunset quipped before hitting their heads against each other, knocking them out.

With them down, Sunset fixed the spotlight back to where it was as Yu and Fluttershy danced in rhythm.

_We don't know (we don't know) what's gonna happen_  
_We just know (we just know) it's gonna feel right_  
_All our friends are here_  
_And it's time to ignite the lights!_

Ren and Yu now were part of the performance as they danced in unison with the song hitting its final verse.

_Shake your tail cause we're here to have a party tonight_  
_Shake your tail, shake your tail_  
_Shake your tail cause we're here to have a party tonight_  
_Shake your tail, shake your tail_  
_Shake your tail cause we're here to have a party tonight_  
_Shake your tail, shake your tail_  
_Shake your tail cause we're here to have a party tonight_  
_Shake your tail, shake your tail_

_Shake your tail cause we're here to have a party tonight_

Ren finished the song by blowing the confetti in his hands into the air, adding a bit of flair and celebrating the fact that the band managed to get through without showing off their magic while the Persona duo and Sunset prevented the sabotages from the other bands. The judges were clapping, giving them the impression that they passed as the Sirens were impressed at what has transpired.

"Improvising on the fly and are good dancers." Adagio tapped her finger on her chin as she said that to herself.

"That was very good!" Sonata clapped at their performance as Aria rolled her eyes.

"Looks like they made themselves look better." Aria muttered.

The Rainbooms smiled before seeing Yu and Ren on stage with them, "When did you two get up here?" Applejack asked the question the others were thinking, except Fluttershy.

Ren sighs as Yu answered, "We'll explain backstage."

**And done! Wow, a longer chapter this time! Been awhile since that happened. Now, this kinda clarifies what changes I added.**

**A) Thanks to Yu's experience with the concert from P4, he manages to help out with the counter spell a bit. However, while they have the tempo and rhythm of the song, the lyrics still needs to be worked on.**

**B) I was annoyed with how Spike was acting during some of the movie, sounding like he was trying to build up Twilight's ego and failing massively. Here, I wanted him to be what he should have been doing, which is keeping Twilight focused and calm.**

**C) I always figured that the gems were the only way for them to not only have their hypnotic singing, but also absorb the negative energy. Since those are gone, the powers they have restored only a portion of their power along with a few new tricks.**

**D) Adagio was shown to be pretty smart compared to Aria and Sonata, so it makes sense for her to figure out the girls were somewhat the source of the Equestrian magic. However, I wanted to have a 'Smart Sonata' moment for a bit of comedy in order to have her figure out the identity of the gem thief.**

**E) When it came to the sabotage part, I know for a fact that Yu and Ren wouldn't just let it happen without trying to stop it. And what better way to stop them than dancing with the band?**

**F) True that Sunset is still reforming, but she has mentioned that she prefers hands-on approaches to things and decided to add a douse of irony with her stopping a sabotage.**

**Sorry about the extra info, but I want to make sure I don't confuse anyone. Anyways, thanks for reading and see ya next chapter!**


	8. C7: Face to Face

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Rainbow Rocks! Here's our menu and our specials:**

**TheBeatles211: Don't worry, I can handle a bit of criticism. I guess it just reminded me of my early works where people would request certain characters and I did it without thinking of how to use them in the actual story. I made those rules to avoid having that happen again. Glad that you'll still be reading, though.**

**Maelaeran: You're not wrong about that. Oh yeah, might as well show off while stopping the sabotages.**

**Komaeda Yuujin: Thanks, I try to keep it exciting.**

**All right, please enjoy!**

**Chapter 7: Face to Face**

The Rainbooms regrouped with the three backstage as Yu and Ren explained what was happening during their performance. Once they finished, the girls were surprised at this.

"Maybe they only did that since they're still under the Sirens' spell." Twilight tried to explain their actions.

"Still, we could have been knocked out of the competition if they didn't help out." Applejack gestures to Yu, Ren and Sunset as she said that.

"There are two things I want to say." Ren spoke up, "First, the fact that Pinkie has a party cannon in a drum. Not only is that a hazard, but it could have cost you guys big time." Pinkie looked away in embarrassment after he said that before he turns to Fluttershy, "Second, gotta work on that stage fright. A spotlight isn't something you should run from."

"Sorry." Fluttershy muttered in response.

"For now, the other bands going up will give us time to practice." Rainbow mentions before turning towards Twilight, "Maybe even finish up that counter spell."

"Yeah, let's get going." Twilight agreed with her as the group headed off.

They entered the halls to head towards their rehearsal spot when they noticed that Flash's band had already went during their explanation. As they walked past them, Sunset was lost in thought about something when she bumped into Flash.

"Oh, sorry." She quickly apologized.

The group stopped when they heard Sunset, being a bit baffled at what happened next.

"Did you guys hear something?" Flash asked his band, who just shrugged in response.

They knew that he's under the spell too, but it was still weird seeing Flash act cold.

"Uh, sorry?" Sunset was put off by the rudeness.

"There it is again." Flash sounded annoyed with his words as he tuned his guitar.

Ren quickly stepped in, "Ignore him." He whispered to Sunset as he escorted her away.

"You might as well drop the facade! No one believes you!" Flash's words seem to have an effect as the group walked away from him.

Sunset held in her tears, not wanting to break down in front of them as she ran off.

"Sunset!" Twilight called out, falling on deaf ears as she turned a corner.

"You guys go on ahead. We'll check on her." Yu told the girls as he and Ren went after Sunset.

Unbeknownst to them, the Dazzlings saw their opportunity as they followed after Yu and Ren.

* * *

Thanks to Ren's Third Eye, the two reached a dim hall that reminded them of their encounter with Sunset back then, who was sitting against the lockers with her face in her knees.

"You feeling all right?" She looks up when she heard Yu's voice.

"Isn't it obvious?" Her face showed that she wasn't before looking away.

"Not like you to just run off, though." Ren mentioned as he crouched down next to her.

Sunset was silent for a moment before speaking, "Ever since I reformed, most of the students believed that it was just me pulling an act for some big scheme. No matter what I tried, I always get suspicious looks and talked about behind my back."

Ren knew what she meant. Transferring to another school with a false reputation had a similar effect to what Sunset described.

"Guess now, I just... reached my limit." Sunset wiped one of her eyes that had a small tear building up.

"Considering what you have done, that stuff is hard to shake off." Yu was being honest about it, remembering the Spring Fling article they read and the underhanded tactics.

"But it's also bad to think that doing good deeds erases the bad ones already done." Ren added.

Sunset looks down at the ground before hearing another voice, "I agree."

Yu and Ren turns toward the voice, seeing the Sirens standing a few feet away as the two stood guard. "A reputation like that, no wonder people don't like you." Adagio taunted.

"What do you want?" Yu kept his guard up as he kept eye contact with the leader.

"Well, it seems we have misplaced something." Adagio crosses her arms, pretending to think.

"Shouldn't be hard to miss. Three matching red gems." Aria added.

"...You mean our necklaces?" Sonata didn't play along, to the two's annoyance.

"Yes..." Adagio stretched the word a bit before getting back on track, "Anyways, we know you have them somewhere. Just tell us the truth, I promise to make it worth your while."

"Sorry, you got the wrong-" A sudden surge of electricity flowed through the lockers and lights in the hallway, making Sunset jump to her feet and huddle close to Yu and Ren who are now fully alert.

"It seems you didn't hear me." Adagio sent a glare their way, revealing her eyes to have changed color to what Yu and Ren recognize instantly.

"Sunset, meet up with the others. Warn them about this." Ren ordered her.

Sunset nodded before heading towards the exit at the end of the hallway, only to stop as a huge sheet of ice covered it.

"Oops, did I do that?" The three sees Sonata having cold air emit from her hands as she said that right before rubbing them together to warm them.

Yu and Ren sees the yellow eyes on her and Aria as well as the latter sarcastically sighs.

"Great job, Sonata. Now I have to fix it." Aria then conjures a ball of fire in her hands and throws it at the boys.

"Persona!"

The fire was dispersed into embers, thanks to Izanagi slicing it down as the Personas floated behind their users. Ren's attire changed into his Joker persona as Yu stayed the same as usual.

"What interesting power..." Adagio mutters to herself.

"Yay, the mask is back!" Sonata was pretty excited about that for some reason.

Joker was a bit confused at that before speaking, "You may have new tricks, but I doubt your power is up to par."

He and Yu both knew most of the moves that Shadows would use, the only difference is how effective the opponent makes them. However, there are cases of the Shadow self being stronger if it works in synergy with the original. The Dazzlings were likely the latter, due to their experience with Sunset, which means they have to stay on alert no matter what.

"Oh? You think this is all we can do?" Adagio had a confident smile on her face as she raises her hand.

She then makes a wave of pink hearts fly towards them, making Joker think quickly as he has Arsene use his wings to blow it away. The wind was strong enough to push the girls back and made the surrounding lockers fly open.

"You were saying?" Joker smirked at that.

Adagio ignored him as she spoke, "Looks like your powers are nothing to scoff at. However, what is Sunset capable of?"

The two narrowed their eyes, knowing what she's playing at before hearing Sunset behind them. "Don't bother." She was stern in her response.

"Oh, did I touch a nerve there?" Adagio kept going, "It was a simple question. I agreed with you about your reputation, yet you didn't succeed with your plan unlike us."

"So what!? I'm better than where I was before!" Sunset called out.

"The 'queen' prefers being in the background while her 'friends' have all the fun?" Aria pointed out.

"That doesn't sound right at all. Speaking of your 'friends', any reason why you're not in the band with them?" Adagio brought up.

The three were silent as no answer came to mind, making the Sirens let out a small laugh.

"Really? They didn't even ask you? How hurtful!" Adagio said, rubbing it in.

"Guess that means that they know no one would see them perform with you in it." Aria added.

"Too bad! So sad!" Sonata chimed in.

"It's OK, you don't need to worry. Once we regain our powers, everything about you will be forgotten." Adagio finished with.

Sunset finds herself back to square one with many thoughts going through her head until hearing Joker speak, "Ignore them. You're working hard to change, don't let them make you think otherwise." He then turns back to the Sirens, "Plus, it isn't like you'll actually win. Last time I check, you can't do your usual shtick."

"Right now, you're just resorting to making bluffs." Yu added.

"Aww, the dogs still have some bark in them." Adagio taunted some more before the intercom came on.

_"All remaining bands who haven't performed yet must come to the gymnasium immediately. The next band will be Trixie and the Illusions."_

"Gotta go. We're on after them." Adagio said before the three turn around to head to the gymnasium.

Yu and Joker didn't let their guards down until the girls were out of sight, their Personas disappearing when they finally relaxed. Joker changes back to Ren before the two hear Sunset speak.

"They won't get away with this." The two turn towards her as she spoke, sounding more angry than sad.

"Nice to see we're on the same page." Yu agreed with her on that.

"But first, best that we inform the others about the new developments." Ren pointed out before the three headed off to where the girls are.

* * *

By the time the Dazzlings arrive backstage, Trixie's band had finished their set and already headed backstage as well when the three got their mics.

When they were at the closed curtains, Aria spoke. "How are we gonna deal with them now? We aren't familiar with their abilities and they sounded like they faced the powers we have before."

"Even then, at least we know what to expect from the boys." Adagio simply answered with.

"But, what about our gems? We still can't restore our power!" Sonata reminded.

"Stop worrying. It's only a matter of time." Adagio was being a bit vague with her words, confusing the two before she spoke again. "Right now, these powers will help us build up more of that negative energy to absorb at our grand finale. Just don't use it all before then."

One of the first things they did when they got their new powers was checking to see if their singing was restored. Thankfully it did, which kept them in the competition, but lacked the hypnotic magic from before. Activating their powers again, changing their eyes to yellow once more, the three started their set as the audience couldn't help but be entranced.

_[The Dazzlings]_

_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_You didn't know that you fell_  
_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_

_[Adagio]_

_Now that you're under our spell_  
_Blindsided by the beat_  
_Clapping your hands, stomping your feet_  
_You didn't know that you fell_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh_

_[Adagio]_

_Now that you've fallen under our spell_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh_

_[The Dazzlings]_

_We've got the music, makes you move it_  
_Got the song that makes you lose it_  
_We say "jump", you say "how high?"_  
_Put your hands up to the sky_

_We've got the music, makes you move it_  
_Got the song that makes you lose it_  
_We say "jump", you say "how high?"_  
_Put your hands up to the sky_

_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_You didn't know that you fell_  
_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_Now that you're under our spell_

_[Adagio]_

_Listen to the sound of my voice_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh_

_[Adagio]_

_Soon you'll find you don't have a choice_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh_

_[Adagio]_

_Captured in the web of my song_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh_

_[Adagio]_

_Soon you'll all be singing along_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Oh, whoa, oh_

_[The Dazzlings]_

_We've got the music, makes you move it_  
_Got the song that makes you lose it_  
_We say "jump", you say "how high?"_  
_Put your hands up to the sky_

_We've got the music, makes you move it_  
_Got the song that makes you lose it_  
_We say "jump", you say "how high?"_  
_Put your hands up to the sky_

_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_You didn't know that you fell_  
_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_Now that you're under our spell_

_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_You didn't know that you fell_  
_Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_Now that you're under our_

_[Adagio]_

_Spell_

Their song finished, Adagio couldn't help but laugh as the negativity spreads once more.

**And done! Another average-length chapter, but it's mainly to show the Dazzlings are still a threat. Along with the new powers, they still have their singing ability as this will be a shorter story if they didn't. With that said, see ya next chapter!**


	9. C8: Tension Rising

**Hello, fellow readers! Becoming a regular, huh? Here's the menu. Our specials are:**

**TheBeatles211: Thanks.**

**Maelaeran: Villains are strong in things other than raw power or magical abilities. They still have cards in their deck.**

**Alrighty, enjoy the show!**

**Chapter 8: Tension Rising**

The Battle of the Bands went on as the bands went against each other this time. By now, only three bands remained as Flash's band was recently eliminated by the Dazzlings who were obviously going to the finals. The Rainbooms didn't have to deal with sabotage throughout, but they had one more obstacle in the form of Trixie and the Illusions. They stood backstage as Trixie's band were playing, trying to tune them out as they discussed the news about the Sirens.

"If their shadows called out to them like that, then that means that they're desperate at this point." Twilight theorized.

"And considering the level of skill they showed, they adapted well. However, I don't think their power has increased that much." Yu added.

"All this reminds me of when we faced Sunset before." Rarity remembers the similarities between the two.

"If you can beat me, then you can beat them." Sunset played it off well before continuing, "Right now, we're this close to the finals. As long as we keep our magic hidden, we'll still have our ace against them."

"Good thing we took those gems. There's a lot of that mist out there." Ren points out.

"No kidding. But after this, we can get more practice in before tonight and knock those Dazzlings off their high horses." Applejack adds in before Fluttershy spoke up, "Um, I know that this isn't related to what we're discussing, but we've gotten this far without using any of my songs."

"Don't worry, we still have the finals. I promise that we'll play your new song then." Rainbow was surprisingly sincere as she said that.

The group then hear the crowd actually cheer for once as Trixie was walking towards them, "Let's see you top that, 'Rain-goons'. Trixie was surprised that you even are able to compete since you have the advantage over us."

"Really? Is that your way of giving a compliment?" Rainbow was smug with her words as Trixie glares at her.

Ren noticed that Trixie was more focused on Rainbow than the actual group, giving the impression of a rivalry as the former scoffed at that.

"No, Trixie is talking about her." She pointed at Twilight, who was confused at what she getting at as Trixie continued. "If you were as skilled as you say, you wouldn't need a magical ringer to carry all of your weight. Everyone sees how lame this little crutch of yours is."

Whether it's just Trixie or the influence of the charm spell, her insults are directly going at Rainbow's ego and it was quite effective as she got in Trixie's smug face.

"Oh yeah!? You know that I can win this entire thing all by myself! I proved that back in the music store over that flashy guitar!" Rainbow emphasized her point by reminding Trixie of their little duel back then.

However, Trixie's smug expression remained as she spoke. "Oh please, we all know that was just a fluke. We'll see if you mean it soon enough."

After finishing her sentence, she pulled out a smoke bomb from under her cloak and throws it to the ground to conjure a smokescreen that covers the group's vision. They coughed a bit from the smoke cloud as it only remained a moment longer before disappearing.

Pinkie gasps as they see Trixie was not there anymore, "She's gone!"

"No, she's right there." Yu points towards the drum set, showing Trixie hiding behind them before running off. "She needs to practice more."

"Next up, the Rainbooms!" Principal Celestia announced over the mic.

The audience was silent as the girls got on stage, "Good luck." Ren simply said to them.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Sunset knows Rainbow enough that she wouldn't let shots at her pride go easily.

And soon enough, her feeling was confirmed as Rainbow sent a familiar signal to Pinkie. The latter rolled her eyes before rapidly hitting her drums, starting the song.

_[The Rainbooms]_

_Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!_

"Oh no..." Looks like Yu shared Sunset's thoughts as he sighs.

"Something wrong?" Ren was unfamiliar with what they were worrying about.

"When I heard them rehearse, she played this song. Basically, it's an ego trip." Yu briefly explains as Rainbow took the stage, sliding in on her cue.

Ren then joined in with the sighing, "Like we needed this now..."

_[Rainbow]_

_Awesome as I wanna be_

_[The Rainbooms]_

_Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!_

_[Rainbow]_

_Awesome as I wanna be_

_First you see me riding on a sonic boom_  
_Got my guitar shreddin' up my latest tune_  
_There is nothing you can do to beat me_  
_I'm so good that you can't defeat me_

As if playing the song wasn't enough, Rainbow was walking around her friends as she jammed on her guitar, unintentionally angering the others with her performance. Pinkie was bored, Rarity and Applejack was just angry, even Fluttershy was annoyed at her as Twilight just hoped they got through this.

_[Rainbow and the Rainbooms]_

_Yeah, I'm awesome, take caution_  
_Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be_  
_(Yeah!) I'm awesome, take caution_  
_Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be_

Rainbow then leaped up front, the spotlights focusing on her as she played her solo. Sunset was getting a bit scared at this point, knowing that this will reveal their surprise to the Dazzlings.

"I'll close the curtains, stay here." Ren ordered as he quickly climbed up towards the catwalk.

_[The Rainbooms]_

_Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!_

Yu knew at this point, she was too focused on having the attention on her to even hear them as Sunset was panicking that Rainbow's magic was forming around her now.

_Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!_

He looks up on the catwalk to see Ren quickly running across to the curtains on the other side, not noticing Sunset run past him in a sprint onto the stage. When he notices, Sunset tackles Rainbow out of the spotlight to stop her showboating, causing a domino effect in the process. Hitting Twilight on the way down, she tried to lessen her fall, grabbing Rarity's keytar and made her fall forward, one of her feet hitting Applejack's bass out of her hands and flying neck first into one of Pinkie's drums. Fluttershy stood there in shock as the lights came back on with Yu still processing what just happened.

Ren heard the commotion from down below, seeing almost the entire thing happen in one fell swoop. He knows that now the curtain didn't matter, but pulled on the ropes anyways to close them, annoyed that he was just a second too late this time.

Sunset got up on her knees as she sees Rainbow's magic disappear, only to see her glare at her with the others getting up to their feet. If that wasn't enough, the students from the other side of the closed curtains can be heard.

"Now THAT'S the bad girl we love to hate!" Flash's voice shouted.

"Told you, the former queen would return!" Another voice shouted.

"N-no, I didn't... it's not..." Sunset found her voice caught in her throat, wanting to deny their words but can't. She didn't move an inch as the other girls got to their feet.

"What the heck was that about, Sunset!?" Rainbow sounded livid as she shouted.

Sunset was slow in her response, not wanting to choke on her words. "I-I panicked. You were gonna show your magic..."

"You could have done anything else. Close the curtains, unplug our equipment, let us handle it." Rarity wasn't as loud, but the bitterness was clear in her voice.

"That's enough!" They heard Yu sternly called out as he walks over to them, "She told you why she did it, there's no need to interrogate her. Even then, I didn't see you guys move."

"What about you!? I didn't see you try anything!" Rainbow scolded.

"I told them I got it." The group turns to Ren who had climbed down from the catwalk, "I had the curtains, so we did think of other opinions. However, none of this would have happened if..." He then turns his head to Rainbow, "A certain someone didn't let a couple of insults get under their skin."

Rainbow looked away in a huff as Ren walks over to Sunset, who still didn't move, and held out his hand in her field of vision.

"You did what you could. We still have a chance to turn this around." Ren reassured her.

Sunset looks at his hand, staring at it for a moment before taking it to allow Ren to help her to her feet. "Yeah, you're right."

"Indeed!" The group sees Trixie appear again, a smug stride in her steps as she walks towards them. "Trixie believes you gave her the win by default."

"Haven't you done enough?" Yu questioned.

"Actually, Trixie wants to congratulate you." Trixie ignores the glares from the others as she approached the still emotional Sunset, "Trixie enjoyed the part where Sunset barged in and threw you 'Rain-blowouts' off, tackling Rainbow Dash mid-guitar solo in a fit of jealous rage! Perfect!"

The remaining sadness Sunset had now boiled into rage as she grabbed Trixie by the shoulders, "IT. WAS. NOT."

Sunset's voice growled in her outburst, scaring Trixie as Ren gently grabbed Sunset's shoulders and pulling her back. "Easy, no need to lash out." He told her, trying to calm her down.

Trixie was stunned for a moment before recovering, straightening her hair as she cleared her throat. "Well, doesn't matter now. They already know who the winners are."

The group then hears the Sirens sing once more with their new powers, this time around the principals on the other side of the stage. Yu and Ren were suspicious about this as Trixie was busy adjusting her hair with her small mirror.

"What are they up to now?" Twilight wondered.

The principals walked onto the stage with Celestia holding the mic, "The band to face the Dazzlings in the finals will be... the Rainbooms!"

"What!?" Trixie shouted.

"What!?" The girls repeated.

Yu and Ren blinked once before simply following suit, "What?"

"This doesn't make any sense!" Trixie then stomped past them, "This isn't over, Rain-bores!"

"Now they're just taunting us." Ren muttered.

The Sirens walked onto the stage as the Rainbooms walked on soon after, "See you at the big show tonight, Rainbooms." Adagio said, "We're looking forward to it."

The girls didn't have anything to say, as they didn't expect to win after their performance. As the Dazzlings went off stage, the Rainbooms heard the audience booing them as they left the stage themselves, walking through the crowds and out the doors as Trixie spoke to herself from afar.

"This is a travesty! A travesty!" She dramatically said to herself.

"It really is." Trixie felt a hand on her shoulder as she looks to see the Dazzlings, "The Rainbooms didn't deserve this at all, even if the principals were playing favorites. It was obvious that your band was better than theirs." Adagio agreed.

"And wanted to win so much more." Aria added.

"Alas! It seems to be fate. The Dazzlings vs. the Rainbooms!" Adagio emphasized.

"Unless they couldn't get to their set or if something terrible happened." Sonata pointed out, though it wasn't clear if it was intentional or not this time.

The three left the idea sit in Trixie's head, who had a devious grin on her face, for a moment before Adagio spoke up again.

"However, I know of one way for you to guarantee you'll be in. Think of it as a mutual trade."

* * *

The amphitheater nearby was the place to hold the finals of the Battle of the Bands that night as the girls were setting up their equipment on stage. Even now, they were a bit put off that the Dazzlings wanted them in the finals instead. Currently, Yu and Ren were using the utilities at the school as Morgana was playing with Spike and a rope toy backstage.

Right now, Rainbow was making sure the mics were working fine. "Check, one, two. Testing, testing." She tapped her finger on hers, only to get silence.

Sunset adjusted the feedback setting on the mic for them before she tried again, "Testing-"

Unfortunately, the feedback was at max, making the girls wince at the loud sound before Sunset turned it back down.

"I don't get it, we didn't even finish our set. Anyone else find that strange?" Fluttershy voiced everyone else's concern.

"Very strange." The group turns their heads to see Trixie and her band on stage with them.

"What are you doing here? Pretty sure the losers are sitting up on the cheap seats." Rainbow taunted.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie deserves to be in the finals instead of you!" Trixie boasted as usual before taking one of her band members' hat, "But first, for one time only..."

She reaches into the hat as Rainbow chuckled, "What? You're gonna pull a rabbit out?"

"Oh no, much better." Trixie sounded a bit more sinister before she pulled her arm out.

The girls was frozen in shock as Trixie held three familiar gems in her hand, "Once again, Trixie always wins in the end!"

After her declaration, one of her band members pulled a lever that opened the doors under the girls to fall into. Behind the speakers, Morgana and Spike saw what had transpired.

"Uh oh. We have to get to the guys fast." Morgana agreed with Spike as the two headed off, avoiding getting spotted as Trixie stood near the edge of the doors.

"See ya never!" Those were her last words to them before the doors closed.

Trixie was proud of herself as she heard someone from the front of the stage, "Well, I see you didn't disappoint."

The Dazzlings were walking down the aisles as Trixie smirks, "Trixie never does. Trixie will see you again when she wins the finals."

Trixie and her band headed down the stage and handed the gems to Adagio as they walked past them.

"Would you look at that, girls? They were right about patience being a virtue." She showed the gems to them to prove her point.

"Finally. I was starting to think you forgot about those." Aria admits.

"All our power will be restored!" Sonata cheered as she then did a sinister giggle.

"Oh yes, it will be. And beyond." Adagio's smile grew devilish after saying that.

* * *

Yu and Ren were now washing their hands at the sinks as they had a conversation.

"So, one of your friends wears a bear costume?" Ren found that interesting before getting paper towels to dry his hands.

"He was just a bear costume when we met him. Later on, he actually grew a body by doing sit ups." Yu clarified, much to Ren's confusion.

"...Really? By exercising, he gained a body?" Ren may have a talking cartoon cat, but Morgana may have already been human if this is true.

"Well, he trained by himself for awhile when we were in the real world. We just joked that he did just those since that's what he was doing before we left." Yu chuckled a bit at that as they exited the bathroom.

The two headed to the foyer when they saw the girl they met yesterday dancing to her own music in her headphones. She notices the two and moves her headphones off her ears, "Oh hey, I saw you at the store."

"Yeah. Never introduced myself." Yu then walks over and holds out his hand, "Yu Narukami."

"Ren Amamiya." Ren introduced himself as she shook Yu's hand.

"Call me Vinyl Scratch, since most people call me that." The girl, now named Vinyl, returned the greeting.

"Surprised that you're not at the amphitheater like everyone else." Yu points out.

"Well, I was gonna participate in the showcase, but it then changed to the Battle of the Bands at the last minute. Didn't really care for competing in that." Vinyl shrugged as she told them why.

"Understandable, considering the commotion around here." Ren wasn't wrong about that since the bands were stirring up trouble.

"You guys are with the Rainbooms, right?" Vinyl recalls seeing them hanging out with the girls.

"Yeah, we were gonna meet up with them right now." Yu answered.

"Need a ride? I was gonna head there anyways." Vinyl offered.

The two didn't see a problem with that, "Sure."

The three headed out the doors and towards the parking lot when they heard a voice call out, "Guys!"

They look towards where the voice came from and saw Spike and Morgana run over to them.

"Did something happen?" Yu knows that they wouldn't be running without a reason.

The two stopped to catch their breath, with Spike speaking between breaths. "Trixie... trapped... the girls..."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ren figured that she would be trouble sooner or later.

"Wanted... to use... van... couldn't... had to run." Morgana said between his own breaths.

"Hey, those are your talking animals, right?" The two then noticed Vinyl standing next to the boys.

"Yup. But, it looks like we really need to head there now." Ren picks up Morgana as Yu does the same with Spike.

"OK, to my wubsmobile!" Vinyl called out as they hopped into her car.

**And done! Alrighty then, we are reaching the climax! And we need everything to make this really pop! Not much to say, only see ya next chapter!**


	10. C9: Reaching Out for the Last Surprise

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome to our grand show! Here's our guest list:**

**TheBeatles211: I wouldn't be surprised since the fans talk about her using 'wubs' for basic stuff like washing dishes.**

**All right, let's start the party!**

**Chapter 9: Reaching Out for the Last Surprise**

The Rainbooms were held up in the storage room under the stage as the finals for the Battle of the Bands went underway. They heard Trixie's band play their song as Rainbow slammed her shoulder into the door for who knows how many times, rubbing it soon after as Applejack spoke up.

"Give it up, Rainbow. You've been trying that for hours, it's not gonna open." She wasn't wrong about that since they were still trapped.

Rainbow continued rubbing her shoulder as her words settled in a bit before Twilight spoke, "It doesn't matter now. The counter spell wouldn't have worked anyways."

Applejack got up to her feet after hearing that, "What are you talking about? Of course it would have, if a certain band member would stop hogging the spotlight."

"Hey, if you wanna tell Twilight that she was getting too focused on being the new lead of this band, you don't have to be all cryptic about it." Rainbow tried to defend herself from her accusation.

However, it only confused and annoyed the others as Rarity stepped in, "You know she's talking about you, Rainbow."

"Me!? I'm just making sure MY band rocks as hard as it needs to."

Her words seemed to be the last straw as the four girls shouted to the equivalent of a bomb going off, "OUR BAND!"

Twilight sat in the corner as Sunset observed what was going down around her, "I only had to write down words to the song. When did writing words become so difficult?" She told herself.

Sunset then had her attention towards the others as Applejack spoke, "It might have been YOUR idea from the beginning, but it ain't just YOUR band, Rainbow!"

"Really!? I write all the songs!" Again, Rainbow tried to prove her point, only to get proven otherwise.

"I write songs, too! You just always want to play yours instead!" The fact that Fluttershy was annoyed at this says a lot.

"And I had the perfect outfits for us to wear!" Rarity's statement seemed to have really ticked off Applejack now.

"Again, with the costumes! NO ONE cares what we're wearing!" She shouted at the top of her lungs at her.

"I DO, Applejack! Sorry if I'm trying to make a creative contribution to the band!" Rarity retorts right back.

Pinkie then popped up in between the four as she spoke, "HEY, anyone remembers having fun!? I'll give you a hint! It's the EXACT OPPOSITE of this!"

"I wished I never asked ANY of you to be in my band!" Rainbow shouted.

"I wished I never AGREED to being in it!" Rarity shouted right back.

Sunset only watched as the argument escalated, the five shouted at each other as she saw something that filled her with dread. Magical mist similar to the one from the students started to come out from them, rising up to the roof and going through the cracks of the doors above.

"No, no, no!" Sunset muttered to herself as she looked around, wanting to find something to break up their argument.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to use that would be effective, leaving her to having to resort to simply shouting louder than them.

"ENOUGH!" Sunset's outburst was thankfully able to get their attention, "This is what they've been after all along! They wanted to get your magic!"

"Wait, Ah thought we were immune to their magic. How are they taking it now?" Applejack was just as confused as the others.

Twilight watched as Sunset spoke, "Ever since you started this band, you've been letting small things get to you guys. I never said anything because I didn't think I had a say in this. Especially since I'm still new to actually having friends. Even when Yu told me that everyone matters, I just couldn't muster up the courage to say something."

The girls listened as she continued, "Now, I do know that you need to deal with the problems right when they show up or it will build up and make even our magic into something else entirely."

Her words were setting in to the others as Twilight got up to her feet and walked over, "I can't believe all this tension was happening right in front of me and I didn't even notice it. I'm supposed to have all the answers to solve our problems, but all I felt like I was doing was letting you down."

She then felt Sunset place a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention. "I'm starting to see what he means now. No one has all the answers, but you can count on others to help find them."

Rainbow rubs the back of her neck as she spoke up, "I should apologize. I call myself the leader of the band, only to prove that I'm anything but. Ren told me that losing is part of the entire competitive thing, which may be a way of saying that I should stop hogging the limelight."

Following her example, Applejack removes her hat and holds it near her chest. "Since we're coming clean about this, I should say sorry too. I always thought a band was just about making music, but it seems that there is more to it than just sounding good."

"I didn't mean to annoy you with all that talk about our outfits." Rarity said before taking Applejack's hat and placing it back on her head, "I just wanted to help define our own style as a group."

"I just wanted to write songs to give us something meaningful to share for anyone that listens to our music." Fluttershy chimed in.

"And creativity helped made this fun to begin with! That is all I ever wanted with you guys!" Pinkie chimed in with a big smile, pulling the four into a big hug.

"See? They found their answers, now to solve the bigger picture." Sunset told Twilight.

Her little speech seemed to have got them back on track as Twilight agreed, "I think you already have. Come on, we need to get out of here!"

The girls then pushed on the door with their combined weight, hoping to open it this time only to fall to the floor. Right after that, they heard a knock at the door before it swung open, revealing Yu and Ren with Spike and Morgana at their feet.

"Please tell me this was a 'pull, not push' situation." Ren joked, getting Rainbow facepalming to confirm it.

"There you guys are!" Twilight said as they got up to their feet.

"Sorry about the wait, we had to make a parking space." Yu mentioned to their confusion.

"Didn't you come here with the Monamobile?" Pinkie questioned.

"Not this time. We got another ride." Ren then moves over to reveal Vinyl behind him, "Sup?" She greeted.

The girls waved back at her before Spike spoke up, "Hoped you girls played nice while we were gone."

"Don't worry, we worked it out." Twilight reassured him.

"All right, y'all. We still got a chance to take down the Sirens." Applejack said.

"And there's only one way to do it." Twilight added.

"Yay, the band is back together!" Pinkie squealed in excitement.

"We're getting our band back together." Rainbow corrected.

"But wait, what about the counter spell?" Rarity did bring a good point.

"I know now that it doesn't matter what song we use, just as long as we give our all." Twilight answered.

"And I know just the one." Rainbow then looks at Fluttershy, "It's your spotlight now."

Fluttershy smiled wide as she lets out a cute little coo sound, "Yay."

"And since we're about to save the world here, Ah think we should do it in style." Applejack suggested to Rarity.

"All right, now we're talking." Ren agreed with.

"I thought you would never ask!" Rarity pulls out her magical mobile hanger with the attire she has chosen for them.

"Once you've changed, we've got the car and equipment on the hill nearby." Yu told them.

"Wait, was that what you meant?" Sunset recalls them saying they had to 'make' a space.

"Yup. Right across the stage too." Ren confirms, "Now, get changing and let's go."

* * *

The Dazzlings stood backstage with new outfits for the finals and their gems back on their necklaces, savoring the absorption of the vast negative energy built up from the entire day of musical numbers as Trixie's band was finishing up their song.

_[Trixie]_

_Ya better believe_  
_I got tricks up my sleeves_  
_See me dominate_  
_Cause I'm powerful and grea-ea-at!_

The group then ended the song with a burst of fireworks in the sky above, making the crowd applaud their performance. They then took their leave, passing by the Dazzlings on their way out.

"Try and top that." Trixie mocked the fact that they could.

"Oh gosh, I don't think we can." Adagio sarcastically said back.

The three let out a small laugh soon after, with Adagio stopping themselves as she notices the more potent magic mist coming from under the stage through the closed doors. The three smile at each other for step one of their plan was finally complete.

"Showtime, girls." Adagio simply said before their set began.

A low hypnotic beat rang out as the crowd looks at the stage, watching the Dazzlings enter as the magical mist was getting absorbed into their gems. Their song begins with a simple vocal warm-up along with slow intricate dancing to entertain the audience. Now, the magical mist from the school went across the sky towards them like clouds as they officially started their song.

_[Adagio]_

_Welcome to the show_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah_

_[Adagio]_

_We're here to let you know_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah_

_[Adagio]_

_Our time is now_

_[Aria and Sonata]_

_Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah_

_[The Dazzlings]_

_Your time is running out_  
_Ah-ah-ah_

The Rainbooms arrives at the hill Yu and Ren mentioned earlier, now in their new attire and instruments in hand as they see what is happening down below. Morgana was in his bipedal form as Sunset and Spike stood on the sidelines.

"All right, time to fight fire with fire!" Rainbow declared.

The group turns around to see Vinyl's vehicle with Yu and Ren next to it on each side as she pressed a button and transformed her car into practically a DJ booth, surprising them.

"That is awesome." Ren was the first to compliment it as the others got their equipment set up with the booth.

Ren changed into Joker as Yu simply put on his glasses, most likely out of habit, when they see the Dazzlings continue their song.

_[The Dazzlings]_

_Feel the wave of sound_  
_As it crashes down_

A red sound wave was unleashed as the gems glow brighter when the rest of the magical mist was absorbed into them, signifying their power was restored. The wave flowed through the crowd, putting them in a deeper trance to focus on them as the three hovered into the air and started to transform.

_You can't turn away_  
_We'll make you want to sta-a-a-ay_

_We will be adored_  
_Tell us that you want us_  
_We won't be ignored_  
_It's time for our reward_

_Now you need us_  
_Come and heed us_  
_Nothing can stop us now_

Shattering the red veil that covered them reveals their appearances has changed a bit. Equine ears on their heads, longer ponytails to look like... tails, and fins resembling wings on their backs with a dark aura surrounding them as they were combining their powers with their new ones. Their eyes were the ominous yellow of the Shadows as they smiled with glee at their full power.

With their equipment set up and their instruments in hand, Twilight with a microphone along with Yu and Joker having one as well for the extra boost, Pinkie started the song with a rapid riff, getting the attention of the Sirens as they saw the group on the hill.

_[The Rainbooms, Yu, Joker]_

_Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh_  
_I've got the music in me_  
_Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh_

_[Twilight]_

_Don't need to hear a crowd_  
_Cheering out my name_  
_I didn't come here seeking_  
_Infamy or fame_

_[The Rainbooms, Yu, Joker]_

_The one and only thing_  
_That I'm here to bring_  
_Is music, is the music_  
_Is the music in my soul_

A white light channeled through the girls as they transformed into their pony forms, along with some extra colors combined into their hair, before hovering into the air to shine, their song getting the attention of the crowd to show it was working.

_Gonna break out (Out!)_  
_Set myself free, yeah_  
_Let it all go (Go!)_  
_Just let it be, yeah_

_Find the music in your heart_  
_Let the music make you start_  
_To set yourself apart_

The Dazzlings had a confident grin on their faces as they watched them, "So, the Rainbooms wanna make this an actual Battle of the Bands? Then let it begin." Adagio wasn't impressed as the three continued their song.

_[The Dazzlings]_

_What we have in store (Ah-ah)_  
_All we want and more (Ah-ah)_

Their song got the crowd's attention again, putting them under their power once more as their gems glowed brightly.

_We will break on through (Ah-ah)_  
_Now it's time to finish you!_

Their eyes then glowed red with yellow pupils as an energy wave channeled through them before sending a ripple effect throughout, going past the Rainbooms as they see them summon creatures from their gems into the sky above. Fins, scales, hooved forelegs and all along with an gem embedded in their chests described their appearances well. The only difference between them were the colors that represented the human forms they came from.

"So, they revealed their true forms." Joker quipped as Mona hopped onto the speakers above Vinyl.

"If that's the game they want to play, then challenge accepted!" Mona called out.

The trio summoned their Personas to fight, rising into the sky as the Sirens flew circles around the group. Zorro stood on a platform of wind as Sonata circled around him, Izanagi readied his spear as Aria stares him down, and Arsene hovered up to where Adagio was to get her attention. After only a moment, Joker was the first one to pull a move.

_"Rebellion!"_

A purple stream of energy swirled around the entire group before entering Twilight, giving her a boost in her magic. Seeing the Sirens group up in front of them, Pinkie jumps at the opportunity as she rapidly hits the drums, sending rainbow-colored sonic waves from the large speakers behind them. The Sirens quickly separated to avoid the attack with the rest of the group following up with their own attacks.

Rarity moved her fingers across the keys before waving her arm out to conjure a swarm of diamonds along with Yu joining up with his own.

_"Maziodyne!"_

The lightning from Izanagi entered the diamonds as they flew towards Aria, exploding with sparks on impact.

Fluttershy keeps the momentum going as she shakes her tambourine, creating pink butterflies around her as Mona joins her in the attack.

_"Magarudyne!"_

Small tornadoes swirls around her as she fires the butterflies at Sonata, the tornadoes then forming into one that surrounded the siren as the butterflies swarmed her.

Going for the lucky three, Twilight sung herself a long note as the boost took effect, creating a large wave of white stars to land the final blow. Not one to back down, Adagio channeled the Shadow powers into her true form as she sung a long note herself, unleashing the red sound waves from before to challenge Twilight's attack.

The waves collided, struggling to even budge against each other as Twilight and Adagio held their notes, going higher and higher in pinch to amplify the waves. The group tried to stand their ground as Aria and Sonata were trying to prevent themselves from flying off behind Adagio, the two waves echoing through the sky before finally reaching their peak. The colliding energies burst, stunning both parties as the waves shook their surroundings like an earthquake.

Rainbow was one of the first to recover and plays a sick riff that Yu follows up on, sending Izanagi up at Adagio with unbelievable speed. She tries to retaliate by firing a beam of lightning right at the Persona-

_"Cross..."_

Only for Izanagi to deliver a powerful horizontal slash that slices through the beam and hits Adagio dead on right before he held his spear with both hands.

_"SLASH!"_

Izanagi brought the spear down upon his opponent, the two trails of rainbow-colored electricity forming a cross around him for a second before dispersing, sending the yellow siren flying.

Aria channeled her Shadow powers into her true form before letting out a wave of flames into the sky, causing fireballs to eventually rain down upon the group. However, Applejack noticed this and plays an intense riff on her bass, which Mona follows up on.

"I'm feeling lucky!" He quipped before Zorro unleashes his attack.

The fireballs were met with a large barrage of boxing spring gloves, launching out to cancel the opponent's attack as the resulting explosions left a cloud of smoke in its place, only for one last boxing glove to come through and hit its target straight in the jaw, leaving a spinning lavender siren stunned.

Sonata had already channeled her Shadow powers into her true form earlier, flying upwards high enough to get a surprise attack in as she blows a massive cloud of snow at the group. Noticing the sudden chill, they look up to see it as Joker was the first to react.

"Arsene!"

Sending his Persona in the cloud's path, Arsene held his arms out as a dark glow emitted from his hands. To everyone else's surprise, the Persona actually absorbed the attack into himself, getting a big boost in exchange.

The group sees the Sirens trying to group back up in front, most likely for a team attack of their own, as Pinkie mashed her drums like crazy, sending pink-colored sonic waves towards them. Seeing this opportunity, Joker takes it as he joins the attack.

_"Megido!"_

Summoning energy orbs behind the Sirens adjacent to the waves, the two attacks collided into the three as fireworks burst upon impact until only a thick cloud of smoke remained in its wake.

Silence was met as the band looked on, seeing the Dazzlings back on the ground and appearing to be worn out from the onslaught of attacks. The Persona users felt something was off, knowing that there must be one last trick left. The only question is... where?

Just as that question hit them, the Dazzlings seem to have gotten a second wind as they rise back up into the air, letting out a horrifying shriek as the smoke cloud vanished instantly from the red sound waves the Sirens were unleashing at once. Not quick enough to counter it in time, the group had to endure it as the red sound waves hit them hard. They tried to keep their balance, only for the final wave to ripple through, sending them off the ground.

Twilight lost grip on her mic as it flew off, flipping in the air before hitting the ground and rolling until it hits a boot. Sunset and Spike were knocked off balance by the attack too as they were recovering. Noticing the mic by her foot, she grabbed it and held it for a moment.

She looks at the band, still stunned after that last attack and slowly getting up to their feet, and looks back at the mic. Knowing what she has to do, she held the mic tight as she got up to her feet.

Twilight was still shaking off that last attack, her vision still being a bit blurry as she tried to focus on the enemy. Still feeling the aftereffects, she shook her head before noticing a figure walking up to stand in front of her. Even with her back towards her, she recognized the hair that resembles a flame.

"Sunset?" Her thoughts echoed what she saw as Sunset removed her jacket and tossed it aside.

Vinyl notices the newcomer and starts up the song again as triumphant beats were heard through the speakers.

_[Sunset]_

_You're never gonna bring me down_  
_You're never gonna break this part of me_  
_My friends are here to bring me around_  
_Not singing just for popularity_

As if words can heal, the entire group felt a sudden second wind of their own as they got back up to their feet. The Persona users then started to feel a familiar power inside them as Twilight joined Sunset in the singing.

_[Sunset and Twilight]_

_We're here to let you know_  
_That we won't let it go_

_[The Rainbooms]_

_Our music is a bomb and it's about to blow_

_[Sunset and Twilight]_

_And you can try to fight_  
_But we got the light of_

_[The Rainbooms]_

_Friendship on our side!_

The Sirens tried to stop them, lunging at the group as the Personas appeared by their users and the volume of the song went to the max.

_Got the music in our hearts_  
_We're here to blow this thing apart_  
_And together, we will never_  
_Be afraid of the dark_

The duo swiped their hands to the side as the Personas glowed with a shining light, releasing a powerful shockwave that send the Sirens flying back at the amphitheater as it hits the Dazzlings and the crowd in one shot. The girls on stage stared at themselves in horror, their power now waning as they floated back down and their eyes reverting back to normal. The crowd turns to where the music is coming from, seeing the Rainbooms and the Personas floating above them.

"Our powers..." Adagio refused to believe what had just happened, "How!?"

The three only looked on as the band on the hill continued their song. They then noticed that the Personas were not the same, but in fact had transformed themselves.

Above Joker is now what can best be described as the devil, a golden mask with horns and red eyes, silver armor, six black demonic wings and holds what appears to be a gun in his right hand. Joker smiled devilishly as he said the name, "Satanael!"

Above Yu is now a super form of Izanagi, a white mask with a matching long white coat as he held a large twin-bladed spear with a large yellow circle guard attached to the long handle in between. Yu had a confident smile as he said the name, "Izanagi-no-Okami!"

Above Mona is a humanoid being decked in a blue jumpsuit with a mask that has a split-visor of red wings, golden boots with two large blue feathered wings attached to them and holds a golden staff with wings as the head. Mona stood proudly as he said the name, "Mercurius!"

As if that wasn't enough, a yellow glow appears around Sunset as she started to float.

_Here to sing our song out loud_  
_Get you dancing with the crowd_

Within the glow, she gained a pony form of her own, equine ears on her head and her hair extended to a makeshift tail. As if now, she is able to stand on her feet confidently with nothing holding her back as her friends floated up in the air too.

_As the music of our friendship_  
_Survives, survives!_

Now, the crowd joined in with the song as the Personas glowed along with the Rainbooms as they floated into the air as well. Streams of energy flowed from the girls, each one their respective color, into the clouds above as the Personas used their attacks.

_"Myriad Truths!"_

_"Sinful Shell!"_

_"Garudyne!"_

Izanagi-no-Okami spun his spear in a complete circle before raising it up, sending a beam of light skyward.

Satanael aimed his gun into the sky above as well, firing a single bullet of pure energy.

Mercurius summons a massive tornado that follows the rainbow stream like it had an orbit.

The lights then combined to form a large sphere that had the energy swirling inside as it then unfurled large wings created by the winds of the tornado.

_[Everyone]_

_Got the music in our hearts_  
_We're here to blow this place apart_  
_And together, we will never_  
_Be afraid of the dark_  
_Here to sing our song out loud_  
_Get you dancing with the crowd_

The Dazzlings only looked on in horror as their worlds came crashing down, witnessing the sphere in the clouds emerge as a gigantic alicorn with a long flowing rainbow for its mane and tail.

_As the music of our friendship_  
_Survives, survives, survives!_

At the apex of the final lines, the alicorn channels the magic into its horn before unleashing a powerful beam of light down upon both the Sirens and the Dazzlings, hitting with the equivalent of a Megidolaon spell as the Sirens and the gems shattered at once. The blast itself shined brightly for a few seconds before dimming down entirely. Silence was the only thing as the dust settled from the aftermath, until a voice was heard.

"Now THAT was a showstopper!" Vinyl was the first to cheer as the crowd followed suit.

The Persona trio were breathing heavily after using their ultimate personas, getting back up on their feet as the girls cheered for their victory with the alicorn fading away. The magic from it goes back into the group as the girls' pony forms disappeared along with it.

Twilight was the first one to speak after their small celebration, "That was amazing, Sunset!"

"T-Thanks." Sunset had a small smile at the compliment, "I didn't expect the transformation, though."

"You're one of us now, darling!" Rarity joined in as she gave Sunset a little hug.

The others congratulated her as she was officially apart of the group with Yu watching with a smile of his own, still a bit worn out from the battle.

"She kept her word." Joker walked up to him as Mona was riding on his shoulder.

"Well, the girls didn't slouch either." Yu gave some credit to the other six, knowing that they helped set Sunset on the right path.

"While that is great to hear..." Mona pointed his paw out for the two to follow, "We still have to wrap this up."

The three sees the Dazzlings knocked out on the stage below, their gems shattered on the ground in front of them.

"Hey, girls." Spike spoke up to get their attention, "Save it for later."

"Yeah, let's close the curtains on this show." Joker lead the way as they made their way to the stage.

**And done! Couldn't agree more, my friend. No joke when I say this chapter was what I was waiting for awhile. Ever since I started this story, I had a vivid idea of how I wanted this fight to go down and I finally wrote it!**

**For the battle theme, I was honestly just thinking of "Welcome to the Show" slightly extended to fit the length of this battle.**

**Also, just for fun, I made names for the team attacks:**

**Rarity and Yu: Diamond Lightning**

**Fluttershy and Mona: Butterfly Spiral**

**Twilight and Joker: Rebellious Star**

**Rainbow and Yu: Crossing Rainbooms**

**Applejack and Mona: Buck-Punch Barrage**

**Pinkie and Joker: Firework Surprise**

**And here are the moves the Dazzlings/Sirens had:**

**Adagio: Zio, Mazio, Marin Karin/ Sonic Wave, Ziodyne**

**Aria: Agi, Maragi, Marin Karin/ Sonic Wave, Maragion**

**Sonata: Bufu, Mabufu, Marin Karin/ Sonic Wave, Mabufula**

**With all that, see ya next chapter!**


	11. E: The Past isn't Today

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back! Last day before renovations, what's on the menu?**

**TheBeatles211: Thanks! I'm glad you liked those, I tried to keep it with characters that compliments their own strengths into one.**

**hnh058513: Really? I can see it.**

**All right, people! Let's do this!**

**Epilogue: The Past isn't Today**

Adagio stirred awake as her surroundings were out of focus, seeing a pair of boots walk over to where she was. She recognized the boots and remembered what happened earlier as she hears Sunset's voice.

"Your gems shattered, which means your powers are gone too." Her statement immediately got Adagio's attention.

Aria and Sonata were waking up now as she looks at the ground in front of her, confirming her fears. The gems were now nothing but fragments, voided of any magic they obtained.

"No, no, nononono..." Adagio scrambled to get the fragments, hoping that they may still work.

Aria and Sonata sees their own shattered gems and collects their shards as Adagio got up to her feet, seeing Sunset's group look at them with an indifferent expression.

"Even if you still have magic, your true forms are gone. There's no need to continue this." Yu had a good point.

"...We don't need your pity." Adagio growled as the other two stood by her side.

The three then tried to sing once more, only to hear themselves severely off-key.

_[The Dazzlings]_

_We will be... adored..._

The group and the crowd wince at their voices, the three stopping soon after.

"It seems that your voices were artificial all this time." Joker commented, "The Sirens from our world were natural singers."

Adagio looked like she was about to lash out, only to take a couple of deep breaths before straightening her dress. "I'm fine, I'm cool, I'm fine." She muttered to herself.

"We lived with the gems as apart of ourselves. We never sang without them." Aria explained.

"And now we have nothing!" Sonata wailed, practically crying into her hands now.

The group were caught off guard by this. Before, they were manipulative and caused conflict whenever they could. Now, they were just normal girls.

"Stop, Sonata. Not in front of them." If that wasn't enough, Adagio spoke calmly to her as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, we won't give them the satisfaction." Aria muttered, wiping away a tear that was about to form.

"Come on, let's go. While we still have some dignity." Adagio said.

The group only looked on as the three walked off the stage. It was silent as they watched them go before hearing a familiar voice.

"Guys!" They turned to see Flash come up onto the stage, "That was awesome!"

He raised his hands up for high fives, which he got from Yu all the way to Sunset and even Spike and Mona.

"Now that they are powerless, everyone that was under the spell should be back to normal." Twilight recalls what was said in the history book back in her world.

"Spell? Was that what they were doing?" Flash was unaware on what they were saying.

"Yeah. Their singing made the school act all cuckoo!" Pinkie summarized for him.

"That explains why everything was just a blur until now." Flash couldn't remember what he did yesterday.

Suddenly, Trixie appeared in between Twilight and Sunset. "You may have vanquished the Dazzlings, but you will never have the showstopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

After her declaration, she threw a smoke bomb on the ground, making a smoke cloud surround the group for a moment before dispersing. Pinkie was the first to notice her disappearance.

"She's gone!" Sounding like deja vu, Joker sees Trixie running up the stairs in the bleachers. "There she is."

The group watched as she jumped onto the wall at the top, only to lose her balance and fell. "Trixie is okay." They heard her call out.

"You know, since Twilight is gonna go back home soon, that leaves a spot open in our band." Rainbow brought up, mainly towards Sunset.

Sunset smiles at that before seeing a lone guitar leaning on one of the speakers. The smile turning into a smirk, she walks over and picks it up, strap over her shoulder before swiftly playing a sweet riff. Upon finishing it, she stood straight with her smile back.

"I also play guitar." She simply said.

The group were surprised and impressed as Flash spoke, "I see you still got it."

"Whoa... that was awesome!" Rainbow complimented as she puts her arm over Sunset's shoulder, "Welcome to the band."

The other girls then gave her a group hug, with Spike hugging Rarity's leg, as the guys took that moment to recuperate. Joker reverted back to Ren as Yu simply puts his glasses away with Mona still in his bipedal form when they heard a cheer from somewhere in the crowd.

"Rainbooms rock! YEAH!"

Next thing they knew, the crowd was giving them a roaring round of applause for their performance. The group looked on in amazement with Flash joining in with a smile on his face, "You guys deserve it."

The girls smiled at that as Yu and Ren chuckled to themselves when the crowd transitions to a chant, "Encore! Encore! Encore!"

The surprises never end as Flash spoke their thoughts, "They still want more?"

"Could you blame them? They just saw a magic duel with music!" Mona had a good point, "How about it, girls?"

They looked at each other as they pondered the question, "Might as well give them what they want." Rainbow was the first to answer before looking at Sunset, "How's this for your first show?"

"R-Really? This is happening so fast." Sunset wasn't wrong about that.

"If you can make a comeback like earlier, then you got this." Applejack reassured.

Rainbow then checked a mic to make sure it works before speaking into it, "You guys want an encore!?"

The crowd screamed in approval as Rarity then turned to Yu and Ren, "Do you two want to join us this time?"

"Well, the night is still young." Ren simply answered.

"Sounds like fun." Yu didn't see why not.

"Hey, Fluttershy. I know I promised your song for the finale, but is it possible that you wrote more than one?" Rainbow was curious about how many she has without her knowing.

"I may have written a little bit more..." Fluttershy was being a bit vague with her answer.

* * *

As they were getting their equipment from Vinyl set up on stage, Rarity was making outfits for Yu and Ren along with Mona. They were impressed by the fact she is able to make attire in such a short time, mainly since she got their measurements from before. Only a few minutes passed before they wore the final product of her work.

Ren wore a red-buttoned black blazer left open with the sleeves rolled up over a black shirt, red plaid trousers with a red rag sticking out of the right side pocket, red gloves, and red shoes with the finishing touch of black and red headphones around his neck.

Yu wore an outfit that resembled his school uniform from Yasogami High, wearing a black jacket with the sleeves rolled up over a white collared shirt and a yellow bandanna wrapped around his right sleeve, black pants and gray shoes with yellow laces. He also had the finishing touch of yellow headphones around his neck.

Mona still had his Thief attire, but now has a white t-shirt with a gold M logo, a red scarf, black sneakers, a golden chain bracelet on his left wrist, and a golden crown on his head.

After learning the lyrics, the three were ready as the Rainbooms finished setting up. Rainbow got her mic and called out to get the crowd focused on them, "How's everyone doing tonight!?"

The crowd cheered in response, "Awesome! This song is out to you guys and was written by my good friend, Fluttershy." She gestures to who she was referring to.

Fluttershy stood still as the crowd focused on her for another cheer, trying her best not to run before Rainbow took back their attention. "You guys ready!?"

The crowd roared in excitement before she asked her friends, "Are you guys ready!?"

"Yeah!" Her friends were pumped for this.

"Then let's do this!" Rainbow then pointed at Pinkie, who caught the signal. "One, two, three, four!"

The song starts as the lights above the stage changed into various colors and the Persona trio tapped their feet to the rhythm before starting their dance routine.

_[Applejack]_

_Once upon a time_  
_You came into my world and make the stars align_

_[Rarity]_

_Now, I can see the signs_  
_You pick me up when I get down so I can shine_

_[The Rainbooms]_

_Shine like rainbo-o-ows_  
_Shine like rainbo-o-ows_

_[Rainbow, Fluttershy]_

_Friends, you are in my life_  
_And you can count on me to be there by your side_

_[Sunset, Twilight]_

_And when the music comes alive_  
_You sing us songs to lift us up so we can shine_

_[The Rainbooms]_

_And the sound that we hear in our hearts_  
_Makes a crescendo-o-o_  
_And the light that ignites in the dark_  
_It makes us all glo-o-ow_

_And shine like rainbows_  
_We shine like rainbows_

Twilight then gestures for the trio to sing with her as the song continued.

_[The Rainbooms, Yu, Ren, Mona]_

_Together we stand_  
_As the rain begins to fa-a-all_

_And holding our heads up high_  
_As the sun shines through it a-a-all_

_And the sound that we hear in our hearts_  
_Makes a crescendo-o-o_  
_And the light that ignites in the dark_  
_It makes us all glo-o-ow_

Now, the crowd joins in as the entire amphitheater was filled with their singing and small flames waving above them from anyone that had a lighter.

_[Everyone]_

_And shine like rainbo-o-ows_  
_We shine like rainbo-o-ows_  
_Shine like rainbo-o-ows_  
_We shine like rainbo-o-ows_  
_We shine like rainbo-o-ows_

The crowd applauded and cheered as the group were smiling throughout, glad to see everyone was back to their selves again.

* * *

The next day, the group were back in their regular clothes as they stood in front of the statue in the high school courtyard. Morgana was back in cat form as he stood next to Spike while Yu and Ren stood behind Twilight.

"Wish you could have stayed a bit longer." Applejack was the first to speak up.

"Me too. But, I have responsibilities back in Equestria that I have to get back to." Twilight explained as Pinkie sneaked behind her to then stick her head in the portal, immediately pulling it out after feeling dizzy.

"And we got our own lives back in our world." Yu added.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I can go through the portal whenever I need to. This isn't goodbye, we'll see each other again." Twilight then turns to Spike, "Ready?"

"Ready." He responded back as he went into the portal first.

Twilight stood there for a moment as she looks at Sunset, who was waving her bye with the others, and gave a simple nod. Sunset smiles at that before Twilight entered the portal as well.

Yu and Ren had their bags back from Pinkie's hair as Morgana spoke up, "Actually, I just thought of something. If we come here whenever Twilight shows up and the portal is now opened permanently, does the same apply to us?"

"If so, then expect us to show up when we're bored." Ren commented.

"I'll gladly have a party for when you guys do show up, then! That way, you'll be having fun whenever you're here!" Pinkie reassured.

"And I'll be sure to keep you guys on your toes. I'm curious to see what other sports you play." Rainbow added.

"Not that many, I'll tell you that." Yu admits.

"This will also give me a chance to make you some more clothing. I don't really practice that much on males." Rarity mentioned.

"I can't wait to see what you come up with." Ren agrees with her.

"Don't forget, I still want to take you on a nature walk." Fluttershy remembered.

"Sure thing, it's a date." Ren teased, much to her embarrassment as she nervously twirled her hair.

"OK, y'all. We all have plans for them. But right now, I think they want to head back." Applejack reminds them.

"Before they do..." Sunset spoke up, getting their attention. "I want to thank you guys properly. I know Twilight and all of you helped me too, but you three were there to make sure my shadow didn't go out of control. When I accepted it, it was like I faced my old self. The 'queen' is no more, now I'm just me."

To their surprise, she then pulled them into a hug. "So... thank you very much."

"Glad to see that you've changed." Yu agreed.

"Told ya they'll see the new you." Ren added.

Once the hug ended, Morgana hopped onto Ren's shoulder as they walked over to the blue door. With a final wave goodbye, the trio walked into the door back home.

* * *

The two reappeared back in the concert hall as Margaret and Lavenza greeted them, "Welcome back."

"Nice to be back." Ren said.

"Though, we saw that time flows differently over there." Yu pointed out.

"That's to be expected since that is another world from our own." Margaret explained.

"Then either the portal for us is when the world is in danger or whenever Twilight goes." Morgana deduced, adding more to his portal theory.

"How curious. Is that what you call 'miracles'?" Lavenza guessed.

"Not far off, actually." Yu said.

"It also seems that the portal itself had stabilized while you were there. This new development could allow you to visit anytime." Margaret's words confirmed the portal theory Morgana had.

"Aha, I thought so." He had a smirk on his cat face.

"Now, we did some discussing about the Wild Card ability you two have." Lavenza started, "It seems that the reason why you only have one Persona each might be the Wild Card canceling each other out."

"Like an equal and opposite force?" Yu summarized.

"You could say that. However, we still need more information before trying anything." Margaret admits, "Now, I believe our time is up. Until next time."

Yu, Ren and Morgana then felt their eyes getting heavy before disappearing back to the real world.

* * *

It's after school as Sunset and her friends were hanging around the steps of the school, writing in her journal a new entry.

_Dear Princess Twilight,_

_Missing you already. And hoping you'll be back soon. Things are looking up for me here, but I know I still have a long way to go. Hope you don't mind if I write to you for advice every now and again._

_ I'll admit, I'm excited that magic is showing up on this side too. I want to figure out how exactly does it work and what caused it to remain here. Your Element of Harmony is back in Equestria and the Personas are an entirely different subject._

_Anyways, I hope you guys visit without a threat looming over us next time. Be nice to get to know more about you guys._

_Your friend,_

_Sunset Shimmer_

After finishing it, she closed the journal before she heard Rainbow's voice. "Hey, Sunset!"

She looks up to see the group a bit ahead of her as Rainbow asked, "Wanna go to the Sugar Shoppe?"

"Sure!" Sunset then puts her journal in her bag before walking over.

The six walked together as the sun shined down upon them in the clear sky.

**And done! Wow, this was a lot longer than I wanted it to be. But, I wanted to have "Shine like Rainbows" in here and establish a few plot points for later stories. Speaking of plot points...**

**I was actually thinking of the next story being an original one, serving as an in-between for this and the third movie. I'm actually really excited for this one, so I hope you guys like it too.**

**And yes, the attire the trio wore is basically their outfits from the dancing games.**

**AND, I just proved that I can actually do more than one story for a series! YES!**

**I'm also curious. What do you think of this series so far? What parts did you like? Were there anything you thought I should have tried or elaborated on more? Feel free to tell me and help me improve!**

**With all that said, thanks for reading and see ya next story!**


	12. A Simple Confession

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome to... a random thing I decided to do. This is mainly about the original story I promised you guys after my Persona EG: Rainbow Rocks story. But before I do, here's a few things I want to list about how I feel right now:**

**1\. Real quick, here are the responses to the reviews:**

**Maelaeran: I understand what you mean. It's like, I want to stick to canon, but I want to make my own spin on it. Basically like Kingdom Hearts, which I'm a fan of and have wrote for awhile. Since this isn't that, I need to break that habit. I also think that if I try to move the path in a different direction, I might contradict the characters' developments and make them feel unnatural. There's also having an idea and not doing anything with it, which happened... and I hate that I did that. Though, I like your reassuring comment near the end, thanks.**

**LunaraGK: Thanks, I really want to write my own stories to use in video games, so comments like that keeps me motivated.**

**TheBeatles211: That's good, I have a vivid idea of my style, but I meant how is this series going. One of my pet peeves is a plot point that is never used or elaborated on that had potential to make the story more interesting, which I know I did that and I never want to do that again.**

**Komaeda Yuujin: I'm far from perfect, but I'm glad you think so. To be honest, the third movie felt like half of it was cut out, so expect me to write it how I wanted it to have been done. As for bloopers, I don't see why not.**

**2\. I think it's great that this spur of the moment idea got more attention than I thought it would get. It shows me how far my writing has evolved over the years.**

**3\. Persona was added on way later in the development of this story, as it was originally just MLP EG AU story with characters that I either chose to elaborate on or created myself. There are ideas that I liked in the series that I wished they did more with, which started my trip to create this in the first place.**

**4\. It might have just been a one-off based on the Dance Magic short, mainly since Persona has the dancing games, but I wanted to start at the beginning to have a genuine friendship between the cast.**

**5\. Speaking of the beginning, Burning Sun was practically that. My passion for having my own spin on the first movie along with having the Persona characters being involved with the plot is what made the story work. The only issue I heard about was there wasn't more interactions between the characters to have a solid connection. Which leads to my next point...**

**6\. Rainbow Rocks felt more restrictive, not because of a time limit, but rather the musical aspect. I'm not really used to doing music in stories, so I had to face the challenge of having the Persona cast still being involved without making too much of a change to make it seem like there would be more songs or too many jumps in scenes. The interaction part was actually my main focus this time, having more dialogue with the cast as you can tell from the first chapter. Then, it dropped down a bit with the 'original' part as I honestly rushed it by following canon the last few chapters along with a plot point I created only to drop as well. The finale and epilogue was my end goal by then, as you can tell.**

**To sum all this up, this was more of a testing ground to see if I got characterization down for the MLP EG cast and interactions between them and other characters.**

**As for the original story, I still want to do it... just not as a crossover. My drive to write MLP EG is still strong, but Persona was just spur of the moment. Though, as a compromise for this, I can do shorts every now and again with the cast hanging out or silly adventures they get into.**

**With all this said, I apologize for those who came here for the Persona side of the series. I'm not gonna lie when I say the later stories don't really have much for them to do that the other characters can do just fine. Though, I appreciate that you decided to read this in your off time.**

**For those who came here for the MLP side, thank you guys as well for reading this too.**

**This series isn't gone, but just changed to a mini-series now. But if you still want to see the original story I was planning, it'll be up soon. I appreciate the support you guys gave me and hope to see you in the future.**

**EDIT: Mini-series? Past me, don't lie. I actually just wanted a break. This is still staying up as most of my feelings are still the same, such as the review responses and my mindset for the first two stories, but the last part is now outdated.**

**What do I mean? You'll see soon enough.**


	13. An Interesting Announcement

**Hello, fellow readers! Here with a rather peculiar offer that I want to put out there before I get too far into my work. I'll just get into what I mean.**

**I recently had a resurgence with Persona EG, as the third story is now in progress called 'Lunar Star' based on the third movie. If you didn't know, now you do.**

**But as I look back on what I've done already, I began to think. What if I pulled an Atlus? As in, writing a definitive version of Persona EG? I'll call it, Persona EG Prism! (Ya know, like rainbows?)**

**What this means is:**

**1\. I'll start from the beginning and redo Burning Sun and Rainbow Rocks. When I look back at those two, I can definitely see where I could have either improved on or even elaborated on better, perhaps even subtract if I had to. Plus, I actually had some info mixed up with Sunset's backstory that I know I need to fix. Though, I was genuinely surprised that after I wrote the whole 'Surpass Celestia' bit, I find out that the comics pretty much did just that!**

**2\. While the original timeline is only doing the movies, specials and the original content I have came up with, Prism will also include the shorts in where they are in the official canon. This may not include all of them, such as the musical shorts, but there will be original ones in their place.**

**3****. Not everything will be changed. The Persona characters will still have the Velvet Room to travel through to Canterlot City and all that jazz.**

**4\. By the time this will be posted, Persona 5 Royal is gonna be released worldwide. I do want to play it to see what additions they have included to also include in Prism, but that will be elaborated on later.**

**To shorten it down:**

**1\. Redo previous stories (Which is the main reason why)**

**2\. Additional events (Persona and EG alike)**

**3****. Not a complete overhaul, just a revised version of the series.**

**4\. Timeline MIGHT take place after Royal instead of the original, though that has yet to be decided.**

**But I think the most important reason why I'm even telling you all this now is:**

**I've honestly just want to write a story that has a big cast with genuine interactions between them and have fun doing it, creating awesome fight scenes in the process that has style and character in harmony.**

**This may sound like I'm mad, but sometimes passion overrides reason in my experiences. With that said, here are the choices:**

**A. I continue writing out the original timeline before doing this.**

**B. I try and do Prism while also doing the original timelines.**

**So please, feel free to tell me what you think, I would love to hear feedback from you all! With that said, thanks for reading and I'll see ya then!**


End file.
